Greetings everyone. Thanks for coming to my webpage. I recently had it re-designed by Argyle Interactive and they really did a great job. They can be found at argyleinteractive.com if you are interested in a more appealing and functional website.

I wanted to take the time to write a bit about a recent experience I had with a new client. I want to keep the details about her a bit general to respect her confidentiality. This woman called me out of the blue one day and said she found me online due to a Google search for accountants in her area (perhaps due to the efforts of Argyle Interactive in getting my name out there). She liked the fact that my picture came up and thought I looked “friendly enough” so she decided to give me a call.

She was very nervous on the phone and really did not know how to start. She needed some organization with her business but did not even know enough about what she needed to ask the right questions. She knew she needed a bookkeeper and an LLC set up. She also had some other financial issues going on that were confusing to her. She wanted to find an accountant who was a “one-stop shop” and could help her with a variety of issues.

To cut to the chase, I want to take you through the steps we ended up taking her to get her up and running:

1. Set her business up on QuickBooks and linked this online software with her bank account as well as her business credit cards.
2. Set all transactions to import automatically to QuickBooks overnight.
3. Showed her how to read a Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statement so as to better understand how her business is performing.
4. Set up an LLC for her to protection. The LLC gave her business more prestige and legally separated her personal assets from her business assets.
5. Increased her liability insurance from $20,000 to $1,000,000 with very little increase in monthly payments.
6. Refinanced her business loan to a lower rate and a shorter duration.
7. Set her up with a “Self-Employed 401(k) plan” to maximize her tax deductions and help her plan for retirement.
8. Rolled her old retirement plan into her new 401(k) plan.
9. Prepared year-end financial statements and rolled them into a Schedule C for her Single-Member LLC.
10. Gave her a 20% discount on her personal tax return since she signed up for a one-year bookkeeping contract.

Currently, her business is thriving and she is much happier. Every hour she does not have to spend on any of the above items is an hour she can spend on growing and improving her business.

If you notice, I did not even mention what kind of business she operates. This is because it does not matter. Whether you provide a good, a service, own a store, work from an office, or work from home, any small business can benefit from a good amount of organization and order.