Yes, most small business owners who are wanting to work on their bookkeeping have every intention of doing it, but things get in the way. After working with hundreds of small business owners and helping them with QuickBooks Online and with their bookkeeping, I have found that there are so many things that get in the way of their ability to work on their own bookkeeping, and a lot of it is mindset.
#1: The number one reason why you’re not working on your bookkeeping is your mindset. You have probably just decided that it’s too overwhelming, or you don’t necessarily know where to start, so you’ve put it off. Unfortunately, because you’ve put it off, you continue to put it off, and you think, “Well, I’ll just wait until I have several hours, over a long weekend, to devote to the bookkeeping.” But, as you know, you have a life – you have things going on. So, it just keeps being put off over and over, and usually the only time that you’ll get your bookkeeping done is when it comes to tax time. At that point, you are contacting maybe a bookkeeper or your tax accountant and essentially giving them a shoebox, or just bank statements. Then they’re doing the best they can to put something together for you to be able to file a tax return.
Unfortunately, that’s really not the way to run a business. How do you know how your company is doing if you don’t really pay attention to the financial side of the business? Who knows if you’re underpaying or overpaying in taxes, because you probably don’t have accurate financial reports to file a good tax return?
#2: The second reason why you’re not working on your bookkeeping is because you don’t have any training in QuickBooks. I happen to specialize in QuickBooks Online, so I’ll talk a bit about this. If you don’t have training in QuickBooks Online, and you don’t necessarily know how to get started or where to get started, you’re in luck, because at 5MinuteBookkeeping.com (which is my blog) you can get over 75 free QuickBooks Online tutorials! They pretty much talk you from the beginning to the end on all the things that you need to know about using QuickBooks Online.
#3: The third reason why you’re not working on your bookkeeping is because you don’t have a system. Just because you may know how to use QuickBooks Online, that doesn’t mean that you know what bookkeeping tasks you should be performing on a day-to-day basis. Well, I have made that easy for you also, because I have put together a free cheat sheet to help you work with the QuickBooks Online bank feeds in five minutes a day. You can get the links to all of these free resources in the description box below.
#4: The fourth reason why you’re not working on your bookkeeping is perhaps because you have questions, and you’re not sure who to ask. Maybe you’re not ready to hire a professional yet, but you just have a few questions so you can get pointed in the right direction and know how to get started. Again, you’re in luck, because I have a free Facebook group for that. It’s called 5 Minute Bookkeeping with QuickBooks Online, and the link is below in the description box. You can join this group, and this is a community of bookkeeping DIY’ers, as well as bookkeepers, who exchange ideas, ask questions, and help each other. It’s a no-judgment zone, so if you have questions, make sure you join my Facebook group so we can get you pointed in the right direction.
#5: The number five reason you’re not working on your bookkeeping is perhaps because you need to have a professional take care of your bookkeeping. At some point in your business journey, your company will get to a certain size where it will be more profitable for you to focus on actually running the business and doing the things that bring revenue to your business rather than working on your bookkeeping. Then that is the time when you need to find a trusted and reliable professional to take care of the bookkeeping for you. I know that this is difficult for a lot of people, because you don’t really know who you can trust with that part of your business. If that is something that you need help with, I’ve also included a link below where you can get more information about working with me and my company. Perhaps we can help you, or we’ll try to point you in the right direction.
I have shared with you the five reasons why you are not working on your bookkeeping, shared lots of free resources with you. Again, all of those resources and the links to those resources are in the description box below.
Download my free cheat sheet
Check out my blog at 5MinuteBookkeeping.com for the best free QuickBooks Online training, tutorials, tips & tricks to help you minimize bookkeeping and maximize profits.
Join my community of like-minded bookkeepers and ask the group and me questions.
