The Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast

207 ⎸ [Q&A] Accrual Accounting and Client Management Insights

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Hey everyone! This month's live Q&A was packed with so many good questions from the community. We covered everything from client communication systems to accrual accounting transitions, and I even got to address some pricing questions that I know so many of you struggle with.

In this episode you’ll hear:

  • Client request systems and processes
  • Xero migrations and software recommendations
  • Accrual accounting deep dive
  • Pricing strategies and business growth

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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These questions that I have pre-submitted today, a lot of them came through email, and various. Channels. So, The first question I had was, what process or software do you use for client requests and uncategorized transactions during month end close, or do you send these by email? What if they're not responsive? Do you compile the questions and send the updated list in the following month? Okay, so there's. Few questions buried in this question. So the process or software we use for client requests and uncategorized transactions, we currently use a Google sheet and we create a Google sheet for each client when we onboard them and we save that link and we utilize that same sheet every month. So the link never changes for them. We always recommend our clients to favorite that. Google Sheet, but we c we always send it to them anyway, again, in an email. Or using Xero Ask because we are using Xero. It's about 50 50 of which of our clients actually utilize Xero. Ask. We implemented that a few years ago because it sends email reminders when people haven't completed the questions. But we just pop that same Google sheet, link into the zero ask email or system, every month. And then when they answer it, they're supposed to market complete. We also have our Google Sheets set up to alert us when there's changes made to it. So then we get an email when a client has updated that sheet. So that tends to help. And so I think I answered the question. Do you send these by email? We do. If they haven't answered the zero ask. And if they're not responsive, do you compile the questions and send the updated list the following month? Yes. So since it is the same Google sheet every month. we just do a tab for each month and we'll just let them know we're you're behind on x, y, z months. If there's other questions that are not necessarily uncategorized transactions that are just straight up questions, those are part of zero ask and they can check them off and answer them within that. If you're not using zero. Even if you are Alyssa Lang has a course that she collaborated with Brooke Swan on, on using content snare for the, client request. I'm drawing a blank on. The name of the program. Um, but if you go to Workflowqueen.com, it's probably on there and she has a little chat bot, so you can just ask her for the link as well. So I would definitely recommend using that system. a lot of our students use Keeper for this, so that's also an option we are looking into, um, testing that out as well. Do you use Kajabi to send mass emails to your clients? IE quarterly tax payment reminders, firm-wide updates, et cetera? Yes, because my firm website is also on Kajabi, just like the ambitious bookkeeper. We have an email marketing system attached. So yes, that is what we use. And we do a monthly newsletter with all of the tax deadlines and what's going on in the firm and all that kind of stuff. We have one that goes to our general email list that aren't. Necessarily clients and then one that just goes to clients.'cause the email's a little bit different, the one that we send to clients. So that's how we handle it. I would love, honestly, to get to start emailing more frequently to my general email list, but. That hasn't happened yet. So monthly. It is for now. And then the next question was, I've heard you say that you've tried but do not use the current QC bookkeeping software in the market. Will Elevate teach the monthly bookkeeping review process as well? I feel like I know how, but would love confirmation that I'm doing it right? Yes and yes. So I've tried Zenit and kind of tinkered with. Keeper in that capacity. But we, I've, every time I've tried those softwares, I just end up spending more time trying to navigate how to do it in the software. And we have a really solid process for QC outside of software from just analyzing financial statements and things like that. And so that's the process that we use and that is also the process that I teach inside of Elevate. So yes, that is in there. Zero tracking category, feature effort, effortless client requests for the name of the program. Thank you. Remy. I knew the acronym for it. I knew it was ECR, but I couldn't remember what the E stood for, so I was like, I'm just not gonna say it. Okay. And then zero tracking category feature when converting a client's QBO to zero due location. Question and classes come through as tracking categories in Zero. Have you experienced issues when doing the transition of clients that have QBO classes and locations? I have never experienced a migration that also had locations, but definitely classes come in as tracking categories. When you. The, the, the program, the service that we use for doing migrations from QBO to zero is called Jet Convert. And on the Jet Convert website, it'll give you a checklist of what all will transfer during a migration and what won't, and how you need to have your data. Cleaned up before you initiate a transaction. So I recommend going to their website and looking through that to get the most up-to-date information on that.'cause there are some things that they don't transfer over and locations might be one of them. So I would, I would look into that. Another question. That came in that I actually answered this one via email. but I'm gonna answer it here anyway because it's really good. To share all of these questions with you. Does Jet Convert work with QBO? Yes. So Jet Convert will convert from QBO to zero. If you're going from zero to QBO, you'll need a different program or system. And I'm not, I know they exist, but I haven't used them because I'm always more concerned about getting people off of QBO into zero. Okay, so the other, another question that came in. I recently became a zero only firm. At least that's what I'm aiming at. I have one client currently on the partner plan Cashbook Ledger, for $10 a month. When do you recommend signing up clients for the business tier subscriptions? I think if they have payroll, then they would at least need the starter business tier in order to create the payroll entry as a bill. Am I correct? And yes, you are correct with that because. Unlike QBO, when you integrate gusto to zero because this is a, the way that zero functions, you can't match journal entries to bank transactions. So everything that comes in through an integration on zero has to either be a bill or an invoice. So when you integrate Gusto, it comes in as a bill. And when you integrate stuff like Shopify or a two X, those come in as ar invoices, because that's the only way that you can match to bank feed transactions. So hopefully that clarifies a lot on how Xero functions. that being said, because of that, their starter plan in Xero allows you to do five bills and five invoices. So yes, you'll need to put them on the, I think it's called early. the early plan, they'll at least need to be on that in order to integrate Gusto. we tend to put all of our clients that utilize Hubdoc and have multiple bank accounts, and credit cards on the middle tier, which is growing, I believe on Xero so that we can enter all of the receipts as bills and not have to worry about which account they came from. So this massively streamlines the workflow a lot in mental processing time. So we don't have to, look at each receipt and try to figure out which card was used and which bank account that attaches to. We just book everything that comes through Hubdoc as a bill, and then when we're just reconciling the bank account, it will automatically show us that it matches and we don't have to do the guesswork of which account it came out of. the response that I got from that particular answer question and answer was, would love for you elaborate on, this Hubdoc process as this one client won't be using Hubdoc. Okay. I would offer it to him, but I know he won't do that. It's a multi-entity client and he has a lot of due to from transfers. Yeah. So for a multi entity client, I would definitely. You can make Hubdoc work, but it's difficult because the people need to understand which, and like they need to submit things to Hubdoc, the Hubdoc client for which company actually paid the amount. And so when you have a lot of, due to from, you know, one company covering expenses for the other and then doing a cross charge, Hubdoc gets very, very messy. So it's probably best that they don't use Hubdoc in this situation. when I am doing a, due to, due from situation is, you'll need to know which company like that expense needs to be charged to, and then you book it to a liability account. That's a due to, from. Company B. And then you're gonna have that same GL account on both companies. You're gonna run the detail for both and reconcile them every month to make sure that you're recording everything that came in, one that should be on the other and vice versa. So, hopefully you understand how to manage, cross charging. And, due to and from accounts, those are. A time suck for sure. So if you're listening to this and you have clients with multi entities and there's a lot of cross charging and things like that. Increase your price. Don't charge them what you normally would charge, just a one entity because that adds like probably at least an hour every month to your month end process to reconcile that account and make sure everything appears on both companies the way that it should. Um. okay. Kelvin says, how do you account for undeposited paper? Ch paychecks issued to employees. I create an undeposited paychecks account. Other current liabilities. At what point do you write off an undeposited check? Assume the employee will not cash check. in most states you cannot actually write those off. You have to. and it's. I'm gonna butcher how to actually pronounce this. I don't even wanna pronounce it. It's like an, I am not even gonna say it, but there's a process that you have to go to your state, basically it's an unclaimed, how is it worded? Like unclaimed money or something like that? You have to actually remit that money to the state. whatever state that. I think it would apply to whatever the state the employee is in unclaimed property. That's right. So look at that State's rules on unclaimed property, you're likely going to have to void that check, reissue it to the state and fill out paperwork around it. And when I was in corporate, we did that process a couple, maybe once a year actually. And so we would look at anything that was, uncashed. Over 90 days or whatever our time limit was. and then we would submit it to unclaimed property. it might actually be the state that the business and is located in, but those rules should be clear on the state website. So I would look at the state that the company is located on, look at their unclaimed property laws, and then also the state where the employee is based. Yeah, don't ever just write those types of things off, especially when it's payroll. Um, but also that process applies for AP checks that haven't been cashed. and honestly, I wouldn't, depends on how your payroll entries are being. Booked if you were actually like cutting checks from your bookkeeping system, like those checks should be sitting on the bank reconciliation as uncleared. But if you're using a system like ADP and you're using a clearing account, then what you're doing is probably the cleanest way to put it into a yeah. ADP. I'm like, ADP is the only one that does it this way, I'm pretty sure. maybe Paychex too. okay. Natasha said, you mentioned that you only worked part-time on your bookkeeping business. Did you tell clients trying to schedule meetings with you that you only work x, y, Z days or just send them the scheduling link? Scheduling link with no explanation? I've always just blocked my calendar and sent the scheduling link with no explanation. I've never committed to any type of office hours with my clients or anything like that. And because of the niche that I serve, I think it works. Fine this way, but if you're working with local businesses, you might wanna be clear on what your actual working hours are so that they know when they can actually like call and reach you if you're gonna be available to them that way. Um. I, early on, I had more availability than, well, maybe not actually, it's, I, I went through a phase like where it was very slim and then I was more flexible, so I wouldn't like necessarily have the availability, but if someone was like, I can't meet on the days that you have avail than I would, I would open something up for them. nowadays I have two days a week that I take meetings and if. Like people don't cannot meet on those days. if they're an existing client, I'll be really flexible. If I need more clients and it's a discovery call, I will be more flexible. So you always have that like, you get to decide, you have that authority to decide. Feeling pressured to have more days or times available to me, but I think I may be putting it on myself as I feel I can't share that. I only work two to three days a week with my clients. I'm worried they won't wanna work with me or value my service as much, I don't think. I don't think that's the case. I would try to let go of, that feeling of pressure and they'll let you know. If they can't make it in your time windows and they wanna meet with you, they'll let you know and you can choose if you wanna be flexible or not. and that's okay. Okay. I'm gonna go back to the other list of questions. You're Um, I come from an always an accrual basis. Background. So for the cash basis, small business clients. How do you record sales tax? Do you also do it on a cash basis? I'm thinking of offering sales tax, remittance, and compliance. Not deep research, but partnering with TaxJar if need be. Okay. So, yes, most of our clients are accr, are ta, sorry, cash basis, not accrual. But when it comes to sales tax, we still have a liability account on the balance sheet and we reconcile it as such. And, when you, This gets a little, kind of a little confusing, but yeah, we still, even though all of our clients file cash basis, we still do AP and AR and have a sales tax liability and all that kind of stuff. So we still have the balance sheet aspect, because. You need to. So even our cash basis clients aren't like a hundred percent cash basis when it comes to the bookkeeping. Only when it comes to tax. and then when it comes to, like when you set up sales tax for a client, you usually choose, are they accrual basis or cash basis? We always choose cash basis because what that means is they don't have to remit the sales tax until it's been collected. And so you wanna make sure you do that too. I hope that makes sense. which yeah, if it's not in the account, you're not recording sales tax until it's collected, or remitting it until it's collected, which can get a little bit convoluted if you're doing AR and AP and, and all that kind of stuff. But, I haven't seen it become an issue for us. Okay, cool. And then, um, you asked would you please expand on what workflows, templates, or how tos are included in BBA? BBA is the Bookkeeping Business Accelerator in case you're new around here. related to zero workshops. So currently I have something called the Tech vault, which is a bonus inside of BBA. Where I share how we use certain tools within our business, like Hubdoc, Xero Open Phone, all these other ancillary tools, that we use in our business. I've done little, little lessons on how we actually use them. and so there's a little section in there on Zero as well. So I go over how we use Xero Ask, which I talked about at the beginning of this q and A call. zero Ask is what we utilize to get. Questions answered from clients. I go over how to set up Xero HQ Reporting, which is the ability to create a reporting package and have it, accessible within each client without having to recreate the reporting package on each client. so I go over that and I have a lesson on. What steps to take when you're doing a migration, which we kind of talked about earlier. I use Jet Convert, so I kind of have directed you there and given you like our process when we take on a migration. so that is what is current currently exists in there. I am working on building out this, if you're watching this on YouTube, the replay. I am working on building out more zero content here on YouTube, which will then also be inside of that tech vault, in BBA. and yeah, so stay tuned. It's a process. but if you have, like, if you're a part of BBA and you have specific requests on, um. If you know why you use a piece of tech and you're like, I don't see a lesson in here on that, or I don't see a lesson on how to do this specific thing in zero, I will record on the fly. I will record you a, a tutorial and pop it in there. So that's a benefit of being in the program when you need resources and, and if it's something that we do and we have, I will share it with you. Um. And then your last question was, when I join Elevate, is there a direct q and a day or Facebook group that comes with it? so today's this q and a, the monthly q and a that we do at the beginning, or I guess we're at the end of the month. I forgot I switched. It used to be at the beginning of the month. But anyway, the monthly live q and a here is what you get with Elevate, unless you. join the Mastermind that's only available, to Elevate members., and I only open it twice a year, so we open it again in November and it's a six month commitment. So we do a monthly coaching call and we have a private Voxer channel. So, it's a group Voxer and the, the monthly coaching call is a group call, just to be clear. So you can get support between calls on that monthly Voxer or that group Voxer. And then, the monthly call is, once a month as a group. So that's the level of support I offer. In addition, like if you've already joined Elevate, and you want that extra support for implement, you know. Figuring out how you're gonna implement things and just kind of general mindset support around offering advisory. And it's a mastermind, so it's not just me contributing my own, experience. The whole group is there supporting each other and offering their insights. And I do cap that at, a certain number of people so it stays small and it's like cohort based. So, when it opens up again in November. It's not gonna be I people renew, so there's not gonna be like a ton of spots always available, because we cap it at 20. Hopefully that answers your question. now I feel I also need to join BBA. Well, BA is always available to join. when you're ready, there's the self-paced version, which gets access to all those bonuses as well. And then there's a VIP version, which we are, right now on monthly. Coaching calls with that. But we are going to be starting another cohort in September. So from September to the end of October, there will be eight weeks of weekly calls. And once you are in VIP, if you're already in BBA, the VIP version, you get to join that new cohort, and those calls. And then when the cohort's over, we revert back to just monthly calls. Yes. Okay. Let me go back through the chat and answer more questions. you or Yele, I'm not sure how to pronounce your name, sorry if I butchered it. what is your best advice for someone who is starting? Thank you. My best advice for someone who is starting well. I'm gonna go ahead and plug my workshops'cause those are gonna be happening at the end of August, every year. this year we are only launching it once, but, every year, at least once a year, I hold the Bookkeeping Biz Workshops and this is the best place to go when you are. Starting out, and thinking about starting your bookkeeping business. Or maybe you're early on in your, business, maybe you're an accounting student and you know you wanna start a business when you're done with your degree. Or maybe you just finished a program like Bookkeeper Launch or become a bookkeeper, the workshops are the best place to go.'cause we're gonna talk about how do you start building your business around the skills of bookkeeping. If you don't have the bookkeeping skill yet, and you're talking about that avenue of just starting out, I always recommend going through Katie Farrow's program, Become a Bookkeeper or Bookkeeper Launch, I think that's what it's called now. It used to be called Bookkeeper Business Launch, but it's Bookkeeper Launch. And, there's some other programs too that are available that teach QBO. Acadian is one of them, and there's some other, you know, there's lots of them out there. But those are the, three top programs that I recommend. Unless you're gonna go to like community college and get a bookkeeping certificate, that's also a good option. so definitely sign up for the workshops when they come up, if you're here on this live q and a, you're on my email list, so you will get the emails when we open those up for registration. We're gonna be opening registration up in August. so stay tuned for that. And, um, my next best piece of advice is, to just go for it. Like, don't wait. If you already know that you wanna start a business, start laying the groundwork for doing the things. Take action every day on something that is going to help you start your business. So whether that is sitting down and brainstorming a business name, whether that is just having conversations with business owners in your area and doing market research. So asking them what their biggest pain point is around bookkeeping. just take, action every single day that moves you closer to, the goal that you have. That really applies to anything honestly. Um, Remy says, refreshes my memory. Which program has the price calculator I need to do better on pricing and not undercharge. the Bookkeeping Business Accelerator has pricing calculator. I also have a mini course called Pricing for Profit, and you can access that on ambitiousbookkeeper.com/store. and that's available. if pricing is something that you wanna dive into, that's a really good place to start. everything that's in that mini course is also in BBA. So if you're in BBA, you already have access to that information. Don't go by the mini course. Um. Natasha says, I have a client who is getting big enough to want to switch to accrual based accounting or bookkeeping. I learned accrual based accounting in school, but haven't used it for my KBO clients in my business yet. What do I need to think of for this change? I imagine more work and I should charge more, but any ideas? How much more? so a couple things to get ready for this change. You want to make sure that. well, it kind of depends on the business industry, honestly. If you're already utilizing QuickBooks in the way of like you're creating invoices and the invoice date needs to be, booked when the service is complete to be in the correct, time. So this is where. QBO may or may not be the right option for accrual accounting. I prefer zero over everything for so many reasons, but this is one of them. But yeah, making sure that when services are rendered, that's when they get booked. So depending on the industry that you're working with, if you wouldn't mind dropping that in the chat, the industry of this client, that'll help guide the conversation a little bit better. Employees who install solar panels. Okay, so then we'll just drive the conversation there. So basically those invoices need to be dated. this is where you're probably gonna have the manual work. So in order for QuickBooks to actually record the revenue in the correct period, your invoice would need to be dated in that period. so what you may need to do, and this is what I do with my SaaS company, is typically clients, they create the invoice on the day. That they're issuing the invoice that may or may not be when the services are actually rendered in that correct month. So you're going to have to do either a deferred revenue situation, which is a journal entry. Or like an, like accruing stuff to a prior period. this is what I do with the SaaS company. I look at all the invoices that were issued in the month and then I drill down onto the contracts to see when that revenue is actually going to be earned. so. That require, 'cause the way that the SaaS company I have is, they have customers who pay for a three year contract, which means that invoice might get paid in 2025, but it's for revenue that's going to happen in 20 25, 26, and 27. So I have a big old spreadsheet with all the contracts as these invoices are getting paid. or booked basically maybe not even paid at that point, but when the invoice is issued. I take out the revenue and put it in unearned revenue or deferred revenue. And then every month I have a journal entry, basically accruing the revenue for the correct period. so that piece alone for that client, I. doing revenue recognition in the correct period. That piece alone probably takes 30 minutes to an hour every month of just creating that journal entry. Even though I have it templatized, I have, you know, because every month new contracts are added, so I have to add it to the spreadsheet every month. Old contracts are dropping off because we've recognized all the revenue and we have to reconcile all of that and make sure the journal entry is correct every month. So that's one piece that's gonna need to happen. The other piece is accruing accounts payable. So having, when you get invoices coming in until trickling, you know, bills trickling in until you know. The 15th or the 20th of the following month, for previous month, you have to accrue that accounts payable. So it's gonna take a lot of probably communication with your client and I'm not sure how complex the business is or what their volume is like, but those are the bigger areas of concern. What about for expenses in the bank feed? Is it really just inventory purchases to watch out for? They purchased some inventory for the install. Yeah. So you're gonna want to, make sure they have a process for tracking inventory. If it's in the system, in QuickBooks online, you've gotta make sure your system is set up correctly for that and all of your purchases will go to inventory and then when things are sold and whatnot, then you've gotta book that to cost a good sold. I hope that helps. So yeah, the fact that there's inventory involved, it's going to be accrual based. as far as charging more. I would probably just because like the base knowledge of having to deal with accrual based financials and making sure everything's accurate and clean, that's another, like, that's another level of expertise. So I would definitely charge a premium on that. it kind of depends on what you're comfortable with. If you want to structure it, like, okay, all of these extra. AP accrual, the inventory, the maybe unearned revenue or revenue deferrals, that type of stuff, like those are three different journal entries that are gonna happen each month. And there's gonna be work involved to do those calculations and gather the paperwork. So you might be looking at 30 minutes to an hour for each journal entry and reconciliation that you're doing. so you can calculate the price increase based on that if you want to. So, yeah, I hope that helps. Any other expenses to watch out for, sales tax, like as we mentioned before, basically anything that's gonna end up on the balance sheet, you're gonna want to make sure you are reconciling your balance sheet monthly, quarterly, at, the very least. and so that's an added if you're not already doing that with your clients. anything that ends, yeah, prepaid expenses as well. So if they are. Paying for a software that's going to last them the entire year. you need to put that in prepaid expenses and then have a monthly journal entry. Uh, prepaid insurance, that's a big one. So like business insurance, liability insurance, typically people pay for that upfront for the year. And so that's gonna go on your prepaid expenses reconciliation. and so that's gonna be another journal entry. I think those are the big ones. If they have any loans, mortgages, long-term loans, like making sure that your balance sheet is structured correctly with short term versus long-term. Short term. It's gonna be higher on the balance sheet, so anything that's due within a year is going to be the short term portion of the loan, and then you're going to split out the long term. So anything that is due. After 12 months. so that's one of the entries that we do as well. So, doing interest amortization, doing a loan amortization schedule for every loan that the client has on the books. Not credit cards, but like actual loans. make sure you have that as support. And then every month you're doing an entry to book the interest versus principle and splitting. The principal portion as short term versus long term. if there's any capital leases, that's a thing as well. You're gonna treat that a lot like a loan. Do you split sales tax per state on the balance sheet or dump in one account? if it's like our e-commerce clients and we're using tax jar, everything goes into one account because that's how our integrations are set up. But if I have a client where we are actually, they're creating invoices in Xero and calculating, Sales tax on physical invoices, if they have multiple jurisdictions, it's going to show, it might show up as different. and QBO might do this as well. It might show up as different balance sheet accounts depending on how you have your, system set up. But for the most part, we put it all in one account. yeah, you're welcome Natasha. Yeah, I mean, even for me, I'm like, I have to think through like what are all the entries that I did in corporate. Like, that was the biggest, that was why we had a whole de accounting department and a whole like month and close process was to de book all of these journal entries and do all of these reconciliations. so yeah, definitely cash basis companies are way easier, but. yeah, it's definitely a premium service, so definitely charge something more than you normally would. yeah. Cool. All right, we've got a few more minutes. I'd like to, be available until a quarter till, and so we do have a few more minutes. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. And yeah. Like I said before, if you're just starting out, the bookkeeping business workshops are coming back at the end of August. I'm doing them a little bit differently this time. in years past, I've made them like a week long and the workshops have been during the day. but at the very beginning when I first started doing the workshops, I would do them in the evenings because most of, my audience who. Our starting bookkeeping businesses are doing it as a side hustle or they have kids at home and, and all of that. So I did them in the evening, and so I'm doing that again this time around. We will be holding the workshops in the evening so more people can show up live instead of watching the replays, and I'm shortening it to just three days. So it. I think it's a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night. And so we're gonna, knock out all of the content within three days and hopefully that, makes it more accessible as well. So, all right. Let's see. Question from Crystal. just getting started 20 years experience as an accountant from AP to assistant controller, you have helped me build my confidence to say, yes, I got this, and I know what I need to do. Need to know. Thank you. Oh my gosh. This is great. I love that. Thank you so much. and then let me scroll down on the next, question. Tim says, okay, I'm new. Is this really possible? Can you make six figures within a year? I'm 54 and starting over after a family business blew up and I'm struggling with imposter syndrome. Okay, so I fully being fully transparent, I did not grow my business to six figures in one year. Because I worked very, very part-time, but that doesn't mean that's not possible. because I've had lots of students who have been in a situation where maybe they got laid off from a job or. You know, had like a family situation, something else happened to where they actually had the time to dedicate their full-time to where I didn't. So if you're building it as a side hustle, is it possible to get to six figures in a year? Yes, it's possible, but it depends on how much you're willing to work. Um, if this is your full-time thing, like, and you are in it to win it and you don't have another job that you're like focused on Yes, a hundred percent. It is possible to get to six figures in a year. like even just, like 15 clients at $500 a month should get you to six figures a year. Let me make sure I do that math correct. by type 15. Times 12, that would be 90 K. So, if you can get yourself to 20 clients or 15 clients at an average of $600 a month, you can hit a hundred k. So like. That's really not that much. That's really not that many clients. and depending on what you're doing for each of those clients, it is entirely possible, to manage that all on your own or with an assistant a couple hours a week. Make sure that you're setting up systems that automate things as you're onboarding clients. Like if you stick with one niche, it's gonna make things way more efficient. stick with one software, it's gonna make things way more efficient, so that would be what I would focus on, especially if you don't wanna hire, is like automating as much as you can, creating consistent workflows so that, you don't have to like recreate the wheel for every client you bring on. and yeah, absolutely you can, you can do this and yeah, you have business experience. So I think you definitely have a leg up. Tim. I'm rooting for you and I wanna, be kept up to date, please on all of your successes and how things are going. super excited for you. yay. Um, oh, crystal. Woo-hoo. Little correction there. I said voodoo before I just skipped over that one. Like, I think that was a mistake. Um, you asked, is having a niche or niche for working with contractors, a smart move. I really enjoy the job costing and tracking depth that they need for cash flow. I just wanna feel sure it's the best choice. And there is, there is absolutely a need because if a contractor or construction industry company comes to me, I'm not gonna take them on.'cause that's a level of work I don't wanna be involved in. So yes, there's definitely a need and just. Just having a niche also doesn't mean that you have to only take on clients in that niche, especially as, as you're building, but it allows you focus on your marketing and creating your packages and all of that. So, yes, I would say go for it if you enjoy it, that's one of those industries that you definitely gotta love if you're gonna be a part of it. Is it true construction is difficult? Bookkeeping? I mean it's more complex. I wouldn't say it's necessarily difficult. I think the difficult part would be the making sure you're getting communication from the client, to make sure that you can do the job costing if that's what they want. Like, that all requires, systems and procedures within the business operationally to make it smooth. On the bookkeeping side. So as long as you're getting all of that information from the client in, it's in a seamless, consistent way. Like they're marking each bill they have has a job number and you're tracking jobs with like a good system like that, it will be easy. when it becomes difficult is when there, there's a breakdown in communication or a breakdown in the process that people on the ground are using. so that's where. In any business, things will fall apart with the bookkeeping. Um, so yeah, I've got like sun shining in on me. All my curtains closed. Okay. Yeah, you guys are so welcome. Almost there two big cleanups and monthly recurring of 7,500, so it's possible less than a year. Yay, Melissa. That's amazing. Yes, the, the project works helps too. And. It's not necessarily something that you can count on, but sort of you can, like there's always gonna be cleanups and if you enjoy doing cleanups post in the Facebook group, the Ambitious Bookkeeper Facebook group and let people know, because there's some people that. Need support with cleanups because they have an influx of them and they need reliable support. So you guys can contract with each other on that as well. Yeah. Alright. this will be the last question because we are about at time. How do you recommend getting info from a client on a job costing like that for items they pay with a debit card, so they can't put a project number on it. for anything that they pay for a debit card, it should still have some sort of re. Seat or proof of the transaction. And so setting up a system like Hubdoc or Dex where they are uploading things and leaving notes for you, uh, where they, do a job, Just like writing the job name or the job number on it. Um, but yeah, what I would honestly recommend, even though like this isn't my niche, this is just how I would handle it, there's probably other people out there that have a better process, but especially if it's like a newer construction company that they haven't been consistently doing this is creating a spreadsheet for them that they have access to with. Pre-numbered jobs, and then giving them the space to fill in the job name and when the job started and when it's supposed to be completed, and all of that. And that way you have access to that spreadsheet and the job numbers. And any time something comes in, you can, you know, just ask them like, which job number is it? Here's the spreadsheet to pull from. so that's a really simple way to do that. But yeah, they should still be having some. Form of receipt or something attached even for debit card transactions, and keeping track of that so they can just literally write it on a receipt of what job number it is or the name of the job. So. Hate cleanup, so we'll pass them on for sure. See, here we go. Alright everyone, thank you so much for joining me on this live q and a. Thank you guys so much and have a great day. Bye.

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