Hire a Profesh Bookkeeper or DIY Your Bookkeeping?

Wondering if it’s the right time to hire a bookkeeper or if you should just keep DIY-ing it? Well, buckle up buttercup, because while there’s no one right answer, we’re here to help you figure out which option actually makes sense for you and your small business.

What’s a bookkeeper’s role in a small business? 

We’re so glad you asked, sweet baby angel. Because there’s a lot that goes into bookkeeping. 

A bookkeeper’s focus is on the details,

• Tracking your income and expenses on a monthly basis (money coming in and going out)
• Balancing your books and making sure that all your numbers are accurate come filing time (so you don’t wind up paying more tax that you should because Honeybook did something weird)
• Set-up and manage your payroll, including tracking and filing your contractor 1099s
• Researching your sales tax obligations, calculating what you owe, and sometimes even submitting to the state on your behalf

And if you work with baddies like us, we help you make strategic money moves so you can grow your business (like budgeting the right time to hire a VA or invest in new gear, or deciding how to price your services for your market and the value you provide).

A bookkeeper does NOT…

• File your taxes (that’s a to-do for your accountant, AKA your CPA)
• Manage your personal investments in your retirement account (this is where a financial advisor takes the lead)
• Provide legal advice about anything (a good bookkeeper will leave your client contract questions and regulations around employees to the experts)

How much does it cost to hire a bookkeeper?

Another great question for which we have yet another obnoxious answer… it depends. And what it depends on are threefold:

1) the level of bookkeeping support you’re interested in (for example: monthly bookkeeping vs. catch up support vs. a one-time consulting call for learning the basics).

2) How experienced the bookkeeper is.

3) how complicated your biz is.

We charge a minimum of $500 for our monthly bookkeeping services—with the option to add on more support (like sales tax filing). If you’re an S-Corp, monthly bookkeeping with us starts at $600 a month. 

Generally, if you’re a service-based business, like a photographer, a bookkeeper will probs cost you anywhere around $300 – $600. But if you’re a product-based business or a creative with a funk ton of revenue streams, hiring a bookkeeper will likely cost you $700+.

Some also provide fractional CFO (chief financial officer) services (read: managing way more than just bookkeeping). As your CFO, they might help you with things like accounts payable (paying invoices for you), accounts receivable (making sure your clients are paying on time), cash flow forecasting, budgeting, reviewing your budget vs. actuals, and a whole slew of other things. CFO services tend to cost anywhere from $1,200 to $2,500 per month and are typically designed to support 7-figure(+) businesses.

Honestly, who even needs a bookkeeper?

Short answer? Everyone.

A non-smart-ass answer? Every business (big, small, long, short, you get the point) has to do bookkeeping. Because to keep your business legally legit, you have to file taxes, and to file taxes you need to know what the heck is going on with your business finances. 

While sure, you can choose to ignore your bookkeeping (or throw your bank statements at your CPA at the end of the year) we would definitely advise giving something as important as your MONEY, more care and attention throughout the year.

A couple 10/10 better options would be to put a bit of effort in learning how to DIY manage your own bookkeeping, or if you’re not into self punishment, hire an expert to keep your business finances organized AF instead (read: bookkeeper = expert).

Both options are better than pretending the IRS doesn’t exist, or expecting a frazzled and busy CPA to do an entire years worth of bookkeeping during tax season when that’s technically not their job.

So, how do you know when it’s time to hire a bookkeeper?

Please don’t hate us, but again… 

Generally, here are a few signs that it’s time to call in the professional number nerds:

You’re making over 100k in sales

(And P.S. when we say sales, we mean that you’re bringing in $100,000 before expenses, taxes, and all that jazz.)

At that point, it usually makes financial sense to hire someone to help with your bookkeeping.

If you’re making between $50,000 and $100,000, and are soops behind in your monthly bookkeeping, it’s definitely worth it to hire a bookkeeper to do an annual catch-up to get you back on track.

And if you’re in our just starting out and in the $0 to $50,000 range, having a 1:1 consulting call with a bookkeeper to learn the basics out of the gate, or signing up for DIY support service could be the right call.

You absolutely hate doing your bookkeeping

Listen, we get that not everyone is a number-slanging lover like we are. However, some of our clients, don’t mind doing their own bookkeeping and asking questions along the way. 

(And we also have a lot of our clients that come to us, months or years behind on their bookkeeping because they told themselves they were gonna do it and then keep putting it off. We aren’t judging. We all have sh*t like that.)

But, your bookkeeping has to get done. So it’s ridiculously important that you are honest with yourself about whether or not you are actually gonna learn what you need to and sit down and do it, or if you aren’t, and need to outsource it. 

You’re selling products 

Because when you sell products, bookkeeping gets absurdly more complicated. You’ve got sales tax to deal with, keeping track of all your inventory, paying attention to the cost of materials and labor, shipping, all things that will impact whether or not you are actually profitable.

You’re seriously stressing about funking things up

Bookkeeping is one of those things that most people find overwhelming, and rightfully so, because the IRS literally makes it complicated on purpose.

And if you’re spending all your time worrying about messing everything up… it’s worth the peace of mind to just hire a damn bookkeeper to give you the real tea. 

Whether its a one-time chat to get everything set-up and ensure you’re doing things right, or handing it off like overstuffed laundry basket that you don’t want to be responsible for. Either way, you won’t have to feel like a sweaty, hot mess every time you login to your bank account, a quarterly tax deadline comes around, or you see some new BS click-bait post on social media.

It might make sense to keep DIY-ing your bookkeeping if…

You’re making less than $50,000 in sales, annually 

If you’re just getting started and don’t have the biggest budget to outsource to the pros, yet, that’s totally okay. 

There’s nothing wrong with DIY-ing your bookkeeping at the beginning as you work on growing into your future, rich b*tch self. BUT, it’s important that….

You’ve talked to a bookkeeper and feel cool as a cucumber DIY-ing it

Like we said, it’s totally fine to DIY your bookkeeping as long as you know what you’re doing.

That’s why we always recommend chatting with a profesh bookkeeper first, and every now and then, to make sure nothing is getting seriously funked up and resulting in you having to pay literally thousands of dollars extra in taxes (we’ve literally seen it and helped folks with correcting their bookkeeping so they can get refunds on their overpaid taxes).

And QuickBooks, oof, she likes to go all wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-man from time to time, it’s sort of a hobby of hers. Which is just another reason why it’s important to chat with an expert (and check-in with your bookkeeping regularly) so you can learn to read the signs of your numbers veering off course.

9 times out of 10, a good bookkeeping will recommend using a bookkeeping spreadsheet, like this one, rather than messing with the complicated accounting software (imagine a bookkeeper trying to navigate photoshop without consulting a pro first, it would be worse than when some of those AI generators try to make hands look human).

You literally used to be a bookkeeper

Go right ahead and do it yourself. Duh.

Bottom line, When it comes to DIY-ing it, you’re capable as funk.

(You’re literally running a whole-ass business.) But, you wouldn’t go skydiving without talking to a professional first, right?

(Actually, maybe that’s a bad comparison. If you do that, you probs die. You won’t die if you do your bookkeeping wrong, but you might want to when Uncle Sam hits you with your tax bill or extra fees for messing something up.)

Another reason why it’s worth it to hire a bookkeeper? 

While you’ll be paying them some cash every month, bookkeepers usually end up saving you so. much. $$$. (And the good ones help you strategize on how to make more.)

And that’s because, bookkeepers help you with stuff like:

Write-offs that are easily forgotten: you know, the stuff you can count as a business expense? (Like a portion of your home’s utilities if you have a home office or a new, dope Nespresso machine that you put in said office) which lowers the overall amount you have to pay in taxes. Or money-sucking stuff like subscriptions and memberships you totally meant to cancel but forgot about. 

Avoiding expensive mistakes: like catching the fact that QuickBooks double-reported your income and correcting it before you wind up doubling your tax bill. You also won’t have to spend a bunch of money fixing the problem later when you realize what happened.

Switching your business entity type to help save: like opting to become an S-Corp so you can reduce the amount of self employment tax you’re required to pay. (We know that sounds a little sketchy, but it’s not. Switching to an S-Corp means you become an employee of your business, not just the owner, that means utilizing payroll and setting a salary for yourself, and that salary is what you pay self employment taxes on, rather than your entire business profit.) This strategy saves our clients thousands per year, but it’s complex and doesn’t make sense for every business, so talking to an expert is essential.

And if they’re dope—like we are—profit strategizing: which involves reviewing what’s making you bank in your business and figuring out how to do more of that and while optimizing your spending so you can stack more cash while doing your thang. 

If you’re ready to stop DIY-ing it and want to know how to hire a good bookkeeper…

I mean, obviously, we’ll tell you start right here.

But seriously, the most important deets to consider when thinking about how to hire a good bookkeeper are…

• Finding someone who has experience with your industry: because there are a million different things to keep in mind when it comes to bookkeeping and that changes across industries.

• Figuring out how involved you want them to be: some bookkeepers stay on top of your QuickBooks, while others stay on top of your monthly financials, helping with invoicing, and giving you financial reports. Some only offer DIY support and others offer full-on, done-for-you support. So keep in mind what you’re looking for before reaching out. 

• Making sure the vibes are right: yes, this is real advice because the thing is, money is a loaded subject (ha, get it?). But seriously, it is. It’s vulnerable to let someone pull back the curtain on what you’re making and spending, there can be a lot of emotions that come with money, and you might feel nervous to ask questions about stuff that’s confusing. And that’s why finding a bookkeeper you feel comfortable with is really freaking important. We should absolutely be a personality hire.

Long story short: not everyone needs to hire a bookkeeper right this second

It might make sense to keep DIY-ing it until your bookkeeping gets more complicated, you fall behind, or you’re making enough money and are stoked to hand it over. 

(And if you’re thinking about DIY-ing it, you might dig our blog post that’s all about bookkeeping basics for small biz owners.)

But also, if you want to stop stressing about whether or not you’re doing your bookkeeping right, have someone in your corner to handle it for you and catch any hella expensive mistakes, increase your cash flow, and feel like this…

Hiring a bookkeeper could be the money move for you. 

If you DIY it, definitely talk to a profesh to make sure you’re doing everything the way it needs to be done (legally and to save you $$). (P.S. If we’re your vibe, check out our “Ask a Dime” calls or our Bad B*tch Get Rich DIY support club.)

If you want to hire a bookkeeper, look for someone who you’ll feel comfortable opening up to and sharing your money situation with, knows your industry, and can be as involved as you want them to be. 

And if you’re a creative business owner who wants to hire us, check us out and hit us up (we offer both done-for-you and DIY bookkeeping support).