127 | [STRATEGY] Effectively Training & Mentoring Your Bookkeeping Team with Joanne Sharma

In this 1-1 Strategy Session with Joanne Sharma, a former Coaching Client of mine,  we dive into some logistics of effectively reviewing, mentoring, and training a team. So if you’re thinking of hiring a bookkeeper for your team or already have a team but are struggling with expectations and training, tune in to this episode!

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How we help our bookkeepers take responsibility for checking their work
• Some of the things I review (or my account manager)
• mindset behind building a team

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Breakthrough for Bookkeepers

Meet Joanne:

I became a bookkeeping expert and Quickbooks Proadvisor after my first career as an engineer in the construction industry. While I graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering I’ve always had a love of business and learning what made a business successful. Years ago, once I discovered my love of helping business owners make sense of their numbers, I went all in and took multiple courses and certifications in bookkeeping and small business finances.

Connect with Joanne:

🌐 Website: https://www.joannesbookkeeping.com/

📱 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-sharma

Thanks for listening. If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram stories and tag me, @ambitiousbookkeeper

For more information about the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:

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Podcast Publishing Tools we use:

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Transcript

1:42

I'm thinking if I'm sick, if I'm not feeling well and just being able to like, have someone else, At least just to help out, you know, if, needed, I mean, I also just think about my clients who have employees who, and they are successful. Like, one of my clients is a vet, you know, like, he can't, he's successful in his business. I mean, he can't be, like, manning the phones for writing care for his patients. So it's like, you know, I guess that's like an inspiration. It's like, I want to get there. Yeah. And it's possible in other businesses. So it's possible for us too. And there's plenty of other accounting firms that operate that way. Welcome back to the Ambitious Bookkeeper podcast. Today we have another one of our strategy sessions on air. I know a lot of you guys like to listen to this. It's basically me one on one coaching someone on the podcast. So you get to see or hear rather how we work through certain issues. So. Today I have someone that I actually used to one on one coach years ago on the podcast. And I put a call out in my group for anyone who wanted to do a quick little 30 minute strategy session and air it on the podcast for the benefit of our listeners and for them, of course. So would you like to introduce yourself, Joanne? Oh, yes, yes, I'm Joanne Farmer. My company's name is Ajoyance Bookkeeping, and I've been in business for the past three years, and my business has definitely grown since then. So I'm at the point in my business now where I have more work than I can handle, and I've onboarded a few contractors to like offload some of my works, but it's, I'm still not a hundred percent like comfortable. I feel like, all right, you mind, I mean, I do have systems in place, but where now I can work with other people. It's like. I know how to do the work. Like, how do I get the other people to do the work the way I think it should be done, without being too controlling where it becomes an employee employer relationship. So, so yeah, so I guess that's what I would like with this time that we have together is just having that comfort level with offloading the work and you know, making sure it's you still have that contractor relationship. Yeah. That is an area that can get kind of sticky and depending on, are you in California? No, I'm in Pennsylvania. Okay, good. So, California is a very strict state with that, and there's some states that I would still recommend looking at your contractor laws in your state just to make sure that you're covered, but we're going to assume for the purpose of this podcast, I'm not going to dive into that employee contractor relationship. Necessarily the rules around that. So for the listener, if you have questions about that there might actually be other podcast episodes about it. And you can do your own research in your own state, but for the purpose of this, we're going to assume that. It's definitely a contractor relationship and how do you so your question basically is how do I make sure the work is being done the way that it needs to be done. It's done in a timely manner and the deliverables are sent to the clients like we've agreed because you don't have the capacity to be doing all the work yourself. Right, exactly. So I'm just like up at night just worrying. Yeah, okay. So, so far, what do you have in place? I know that you're in breakthrough with Workflow Queen. So, I'm assuming you have developed some workflows and SOPs for the client work? Oh, yes, I do. And that's where so I've been working with 1 of my contractors for about a month or 2 now, and I noticed, like, I still have to, like, tweak those SOPs like, they work for me. I understood them. Yeah. And then now. that she's doing, and I realized, oh, I, I needed to redo it, and I'm sorry. So then another thing is also, I'm also trying to use, like, a QA software as I, and I, I was trying to use Keeper, but I just really never got the hang of it. And now I recently discovered Zenit. I really love it. So I'm going to start implementing that. Okay, so that's. Yeah. I'm excited about that. Yeah, that's a good software to implement. I actually started playing around with that a while back too. and I ended up just going back to my, our manual process, but that's because I have another human that can review the same way that I did pretty much like not quite exactly the same way that I would do it, but that person is an employee too. So But yeah, let's take a step back to at least currently what you have is your contractors are doing the day to day bookkeeping work for the clients that you currently have Yeah. So, I mean, right now they're mainly doing, cause, cause I have they don't have as high skill level right now. They're just doing the bank feeds and the reconciliation, but now, I feel like I need to teach them like how to fix mistakes and look for mistakes so that I don't have to. Keep doing that. Yeah, and so it is a process and I think you mentioned before we hit record that it's only been a couple months maybe that you've had your contractors? Yeah, yeah, it hasn't been that long. So just to provide context to the listener, like, you've only had them for a couple months so that is totally normal for you to, especially because you said they came to you with no experience. So you've basically taught them how to do these things in QuickBooks. So it's normal that you're finding mistakes and needing to correct things. What I would suggest in, even though they're contractors, you can still say like, let's hop on a call. Let me show you what I'm looking at and how I'm reviewing this so that You can see how I'm fixing these mistakes, or you can walk them through fixing it themselves, or you could do this with a Loom video, however I like having it done in, you know, in person as often as you can because what happens with if you do it in a Loom video, no, I'm not saying this doesn't work, but it depends on the type of person that you're working with. So someone might watch the Loom video and since they didn't actually fix the mistake themselves, they're not going to learn it. They're not going to learn to catch it next time because they didn't have to make the correction. A lot of us operate that way, actually. uNless what they're doing, like, what you could do also is have more of, like, a written checklist for them of, and I know you're in breakthrough, so I think you do have access to a month end handoff. Document that might be a really good place to start. So set up like a coworking or a meeting with maybe both of them. If you're encountering the same issues on both of their work or you could do it on a 1 on 1, but to hold like a training session of like, we're going to implement this month end handoff document. And it basically is a checklist for the bookkeeper who's doing the work of all the things they need to double check. So it's going to make your review work. A lot easier. And if there's anything, so for instance, one of the things on the checklist that we use is is there anything in like they're supposed to look at the AP aging and look to see, I don't know if this is in the version that you have, cause I've tweaked mine. But one of the things that I have on my bookkeeper's month end checklist after they've done the bank feeds and the bank reconciliations is they are supposed to pull the AR aging and the AP aging and make sure there's nothing really old and outstanding on it. And if there is, there needs to be notes in the month end handoff that they either A, looked at it, validated it, it's real, it needs to stay there, or they looked at it, it needs to be corrected, we need to ask the client about it. Whatever the issue is, but I need to know that they actually looked at it So then I'm not going and duplicating that effort when I do the review or whoever is doing the review, like looking at the AR aging and being like, wow, there's stuff on here that's 180 days old. This might not be real. Do I know if the bookkeeper even looked at it if there's no notes, right? So that's why that document is really helpful. So that might be step one to implement with them and kind of do a training session on what your expectations are around, okay, once you've done the bank feeds and the bank reconciliation, then we have this month end handoff document. I'd like you to go through this. And then when this is complete, you tag me in whatever communication system you're using, whether it's Asana or Slack or whatever, and let me know. End of month handoff is done. It's ready for your review. And then as you're doing reviews, you can either use that checklist or the way that we do it is we look through the month end handoff, see if there's any bullet points, and then we go and do a review of the balance sheet and make sure everything looks right. So one of the main things that we review is the bank reconciliation against The bank statement. So we'll pull up the banker conciliation report and make sure that there's nothing old and outstanding like stale data checks or unclear deposits or anything like that. that shouldn't be there. And if there is, that's something that I would like, I would continue to review the rest of the balance sheet and make notes of everything that needs correcting. And then I would go back and either Like, have the bookkeeper hop on a call with me so we can go through it together or record a Loom video as I'm fixing things. So that's where it kind of depends on their learning style. And maybe the first time you do, you record a Loom video and you say, okay, these, these are the things that I'm looking at and fixing. Can you make sure to address this or look at it before you hand things off to me next month and this is how you would fix things if anything comes up or if you find a mistake and you're not sure how to fix it, you can reach out to me and then if it continues to happen going forward at that point, like the next time it happens, I would send it back to them and say, refer to that Loom video on how to fix this, fix it yourself so that it gets embedded in their system. knowledge and, their habits, right? And then hopefully it's not a recurring issue. Yeah. After that. So, so I actually have a recurring meeting with one of my contractors, the one who does the the monthly stuff for me. And, and then I, I, unfortunately, like the last two weeks, especially because of the holidays, like I've just been cancelling it because I'm like, I can't, I can't meet. But, uh, we really do need to meet. and one thing, so I have been making loom videos. And one of the good things about them is I find that because I do have a couple of contractors is I realized, oh wow, this, my other contractor could use this video as well. And then I put, put it in that, I think it's like called like a master SOP list. Like, yeah, unless it hasn't been breakthrough for bookkeepers. So I got that in there, but yeah, it really wasn't until recently where I realized I need to teach them how to catch their own mistakes. Like, I was just spending so much time before just, like, teaching them how to do this stuff. Yeah, now we've moved on to the second phase of them now being able to catch their own mistakes because they're Yeah, but, but then I'm thinking, you know, because, like, things happen and, you know, there's no guarantee that they're going to be able to help me, you know, or be contractors later on the road. But, like, if I have to Onboard someone else, like, I'm just hoping that this process won't be as time consuming As it is right now, as I'm learning to work with contractors, like, I mean, there is still going to be that period where, I guess, you know, the other onboarding, they're not going to be as fast and they're still learning your systems. Like, is that? Yeah. Like I said, it's only been a couple months. So if you think about it, like there's only been two monthly cycles where they've been learning. How to handle things maybe not even on their own for both of those full monthly cycles, right? So it's, it's normal. And what also, I think a lot of business owners, when we start to hire and get help in our business, we think that we're going to be able to spend less Less time overall in our business, but it may end up just being, you're actually shifting more of the time from actually doing the work to mentoring your team. Right? Like answering their questions, mentoring them, building up their skills and stuff like that. So eventually you should be able to remove yourself more. As time goes on and they, their skill level increases and, and things, but I think initially expect to be just shifting the same amount of time that you're spending in your business, shifting it to instead of doing actual client work, you're now spending that time checking over things, mentoring team and and managing the process instead of doing the process yourself. And this is where a lot of people They don't see the fruits of it quick enough. And so they give up and think that they should just do it all themselves. And sometimes I fall into that mindset too, where I'm like, Oh, it would just be easier to just do it all myself. And then I would know it was right on the first try. just know that it's going to take maybe six months to get to the point where you're actually able to dial back the time you're spending in your business. And you're building the trust with your team of knowing that they can handle it without your involvement so that you can then increase capacity and bring on more clients where you're not as involved. Does that make sense? Oh, yeah, yeah, no, that's what like, I didn't think about it, you know, when I first started, of course, you, you're spending all this time, like, trying to get, get clients, and, and then, like, now, where I can, like, offload work, and then, then you, of course, your income should, like, steadily, like, increase, whereas now, it's because, all right, I'm paying someone else to do the work, so now my income, so hopefully, you know, it takes a temporary dip, but then also my time isn't, I don't care. I'm not still gaining a lot of time, like it's still, there's still like this, part until like you reap the benefits later, it's just right now. Yeah. Yeah, you're investing a lot of time and energy into it, but if you think of it in terms of, and this is something that has helped me continue to build the team and not take on everything myself and. And all that of that is that there is always a risk of, like you said before, like, what if the team member leaves and I've invested all this time or whatever, like, we want to make sure that you're able to easily onboard someone else. The next one's going to be a lot easier. You're going to have a lot more clarity on what to expect timeline wise and skills wise and all of this like onboarding. But one thing that has helped me to continue. building a team instead of just doing everything myself is that like you're able to create the type of culture that you want your business to be. You're able to build the type of team that you want to work with and you're, you're teaching people new skills that they didn't have before because they came to you without bookkeeping experience. So you're, able to like mentor people if that's something that you enjoy. And you feel like as part of your purpose, then it'll be easier. Right? if you don't view that as like a benefit, it's going to be a little harder to want to build a team. Right? So it's kind of like, it just depends on what your goal is and what you want out of things. But that's something that's personally helped me in continuing on the path of Building team and not doing it all myself because I also have visions to sell my company at some point and I can't sell it if I'm the one that's doing everything. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely like a concern of mine. I'm thinking if I'm sick, if I'm not feeling well and just being able to like, have someone else, At least just to help out, you know, if, needed, I mean, I also just think about my clients who have employees who, and they are successful. Like, one of my clients is a vet, you know, like, he can't, he's successful in his business. I mean, he can't be, like, manning the phones for writing care for his patients. So it's like, you know, I guess that's like an inspiration. It's like, I want to get there. Yeah. And it's possible in other businesses. So it's possible for us too. And there's plenty of other accounting firms that operate that way. I think what's really helpful too, is to actually, if that is like, a vision and a goal of yours is to listen to this podcast. I have lots of guest interviewees that have built firms where they never did any of the work themselves. You know what I mean? Like where they've always, they started from the beginning having a team. And so it's like, when you want to know if something is possible, you go out and look for other people who are doing it and, learn from them, watch what they're doing and. It's not easy. Neither way is easy. Like doing all the work yourself is not going to be easy. There's drawbacks to that. There's drawbacks and challenges to building a team because then you end up with HR issues or people quitting or not hiring the right fit. I've done that a few times. So it's just like, it's kind of that whole, like, choose your hard. Which, hard is going to get you closest to what your ultimate vision is and your ultimate goal? And then just kind of sticking with it and having things that remind you of like why you're doing this, right? For you, it's like, well, if I get sick, I have a backup. And yes, team members will come and go. That's a given. you're probably not going to have the same team member for the whole, forever, right? People move on, lives change, people move, whatever happens. And so if you just know that going into it, when you are creating processes and trainings and things like that, you can think forward to like, I'm probably going to have to use this again. So how can I make it all encompassing and how can we adjust? Maybe our internal processes or our niche or the type of clients we're bringing on. So it makes this whole thing easier. That was one thing that, really helped me is staying true to the niche that I had decided on was that if I bring on anyone outside of our normal process. I'm going to be the one stuck doing it because I'm not going to put that on my team. So that keeps me from signing on clients that aren't a great fit, right? Because I'm in, I'm in charge of the sales and marketing still. So it's like, ultimately, like, I'm just going to be punishing myself if I go outside of the parameters that we've set with the type of clients that we want. So because I've created these processes for the team to keep them efficient and to keep things profitable. So it's like, it keeps me accountable. Knowing that I'm like, if we go outside of this, we're gonna have to create a whole nother process. I'm gonna have to train someone on how to do it, or I'm gonna have to do it myself. So at the end of the day, it might not be worth it. So we'll just wait until the next right fit client comes along. I mean, like, I definitely feel compared to earlier, I think, I forget if I did mention that I'd hired a VA who did end up leaving because this wasn't what she wanted to do. And then now that having the SOPs in place right now, it just feels like, you know, yeah, that experience for her compared to my new contractors that I would, um. onboard Yeah, and that's the beauty of being able to look at a situation like that too, that like maybe went a little bit wrong and evaluating like, well, Ultimately, it was kind of her thing where it wasn't a great fit for her, but still reflecting on like, what could I have done differently on my end to make it a better experience for her or make it a more successful relationship? And that's how we've, built out. Lots of processes, right? With like on the client side of like, well, that client didn't work out. What could we have done on the front end to make sure that that didn't happen? And so now you're able to create certain processes and systems to prevent or mitigate certain things like that and it goes with onboarding team too. Like if you have documented processes in place, it's going to make their job a lot easier. If you stick to the plan and only bring on certain type of clients, it's going to make their job easier. They're going to enjoy working here more. They're going to last longer. So all those things. so all right, we are just about at time. Well, we're a little over, but I don't want to, like, wrap up without making sure that that gave you the clarity and help that you were looking for. Is there anything else specifically around reviewing work or anything like that, that you need, more clarification on? Thank you. No, no, this is good. Yeah, it's just, I know I'm heading in the right direction. I just, like, want assurance that, you know, I'm pushing it the right way. Yeah, yeah, you are. And implementing Zenit will help, too. that's something that, You can actually have them run the Zenit file as a 1st pass and have them make some of the corrections through that 1st. I know they have a, I remember watching a webinar through Zenit about that where 1 of the, the firms. They have their bookkeepers actually run the month end check or whatever that they call it in Zenit first so that they catch some of those things that need to be correction, corrected, like duplicates and duplicate vendors and things like that. so making that part of your month end handoff. To yeah, you know, I was thinking about that. And yeah, that sounds good. yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be able to support you. And, if anything else pops up, let me know. Keep me updated. All right. Thanks, Serena. All right.