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Welcome to the six figure business mastery podcast, where every week
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Kirsten and Jeannie dive into the essential topics to fuel your business
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growth, from copywriting to course creation, mindset to video marketing.
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They've got you covered tune in for expert guest interviews on all things,
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marketing and business, and learn how to work on your business, not just in it.
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So get ready to unlock your business potential and take it to the next level.
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Welcome everyone to today's episode.
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We are absolutely thrilled to have the lovely Sue Lobdell with us.
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Sue is an accountant.
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She's got 28 years of experience in accounting.
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She provides expert services and payroll benefits, tax, and multi state sales tax.
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She does both virtual in person and in person services.
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She's available to clients nationwide.
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She is a community driven and patriotic professional.
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She dedicates time to coaching girls softball.
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She's married with two adult kids.
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She's excited to build new business relationships and contribute her
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expertise to help clients succeed.
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So today we're going to talk about.
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There's more to accounting than QuickBooks, so I'm excited to learn more.
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So welcome, Sue.
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We're thrilled to have you here today.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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I'm excited.
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When Jeannie says she's not a big fan of it, bookkeeping was the first thing you
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outsourced in your business, wasn't it?
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Very first thing you outsourced.
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Coming into my office and I would have all those receipts.
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piled up in a pile on my desk and just seeing those it was the guilt
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and the shame and the I really need to do this and I really don't want to
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so yeah I was thrilled to find a good bookkeeper to take that off my hands.
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Sue is an excellent bookkeeper she and I met out networking here in Sarasota
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Florida and so we're excited to have you here because I think bookkeeping
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most people feel like Jeannie does right it's overwhelming it's stressful.
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So I'm excited to talk with you about QuickBooks and all the things
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that small business owners need to know to be successful with their
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bookkeeping and things that will help them grow their business.
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So Sue, tell us what your thoughts are on QuickBooks.
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So I've been using QuickBooks for 28 years, desktop for a very long time.
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And then QuickBooks has chosen to move online, which has limited
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some of the capabilities that so many professionals have.
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Of many different industries are used to from the desktop version, the reporting's
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not great from an accounting standpoint.
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I'm sure that for some service professionals, it's
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pretty adequate for them.
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They've moved payroll online, and when you're used to 1 platform.
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To go to something by the same manufacturer that's completely different
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can be a struggle for small business owners to learn you have to transition
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the data yourself for one thing there is tech support available but sometimes
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people have to pay for it and there's so many maybe a half a dozen that I would
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recommend other accounting platforms that are cloud based you can use them
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anywhere there's a website there's an app that as soon as you pick it up and learn
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it You find it so much more convenient.
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So what are the, some of the softwares you recommend?
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That's part of it.
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And I also want to add that some clients come to me who maybe
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just need reconciliations done or information to get to their CPA.
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And in those cases, I just set them up on a free bookkeeping software
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so that I can have their data to get it together for their CPA.
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So a program like that would be zero.
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There's a program called fresh books.
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There's Zoho books is becoming more popular.
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And there's a couple more smaller ones that are the basics.
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People can go in, there's tutorials to help them, they can enter their
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expenses, enter their checks, see how much money's in their bank, make
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sure that everything's captured.
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And for some small businesses, that's enough, but these
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programs also expand to the full capabilities they're used to seeing.
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So maybe like the starter version has some things in it,
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but you can pay to have more?
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They can do credit card processing.
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Just like QuickBooks Online can.
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And for some of them, it comes with the free basic plan.
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And for other, uh, they pretty much have steps, like a free basic,
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something with a little more features.
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Then you can add payroll, which is something with a little more features.
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And then the platinum plan, which does everything.
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These programs can process credit cards.
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They can calculate and pay sales tax.
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They can calculate and pay payroll, and it's all from their computer.
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So it's less outsourcing, I think, when companies can do it.
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In house or learn to do it in house.
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It's going to save them money outsourcing these tasks.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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So, and I'm assuming it does things like it.
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They run reports of different things that you need.
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The reports are pretty much at your fingertips.
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If you have drivers or employees.
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That you pay mileage for, or you need their gas receipts.
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In their app, someone can take a picture of their receipt and it's going to
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upload saying that this person was at shell on November 12th at 10 a.
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m.
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and they got 12 gallons for 315 a gallon, but then it's right
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into your accounting system.
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You can tell them that all the gas transactions, maybe go on the card.
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Or it'll help you expense them and save time on manual entry.
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Well, I would appreciate, have appreciated that many years ago, that
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you could just take a picture of it and there it would automatically upload.
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I love that.
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Zoho specifically has something called Zoho Expense, but they have a whole
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suite of just full office management capabilities and so do other apps.
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And it's just a matter of working with someone, telling them what
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your needs are and people who know that, Oh, this is probably a better
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fit or could be in QuickBooks.
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Yeah.
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And it's interesting.
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I think ZOHO has been around for a long time, but I think
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they started out as just a CRS.
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That's my experience as well.
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So as a bookkeeper, do you review accounts for business owners who do it themselves,
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or do you just do it for business owners?
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I offer financial review packages for lack of a better term.
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And this time of year, it's pretty popular.
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I'll have business owners come to me and say, Hey, this
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is what I've done this year.
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And a lot of people at this time of year are looking to save money on what
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they're going to have to pay in taxes.
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So sometimes it's recommending.
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You know, capital expenses they could make if their buildings need improvement,
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if their fleet needs updated, things like that, that will bring down their
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taxable income, but benefit their business from a capital perspective.
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Yeah, I love that.
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I love how you're helping them think strategically about what
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they're doing with their business and different things that happen
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at different times of the year.
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So do you also set up the accounts and things for people who, who
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don't want to do it themselves?
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Let's say.
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They pick one of those softwares.
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Do you help them set it up?
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I do.
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You know, I've been given spreadsheets and boxes and it's like, here's
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everything from last year.
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And the first question I always ask is, has your tax return been filed?
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The reason I ask this is if their tax return has been filed, no matter
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how much they give me, it has to equal what their tax return says.
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So sometimes that takes a little more investigating, but I'll work with a
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spreadsheet and a box of receipts.
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Anything from a company file, from a different software, uh, pretty much
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whatever they can give me to help them get set up and running a little
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more independently and smoothly.
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Yeah, I love that.
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Now, out of the three different softwares that you talked about,
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alternatives to QuickBooks, do you have a favorite out of those?
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I love QuickBooks.
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Zoho is my favorite.
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It's easy to use.
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It's easy to learn.
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It's easy to customize.
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It's desktop, website, and mobile app you can use.
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And there's a lot of branches to it that feed to QuickBooks.
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Here's my analogy.
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When I say QuickBooks, I basically mean accounting software.
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People are used to entering invoices, writing checks, doing things like that.
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But what they don't understand is it's a spider web.
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So you can enter an invoice, but it's going to touch at least two accounts.
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Your accounts receivable and office expenses.
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Which then feeds backwards, so it's face to face transactions feed different
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parts of the accounting program.
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So that's why you have to be very careful about correct entry
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voiding it the correct way.
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If you make a mistake, basically you have to do the opposite of what you did.
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So if I entered an invoice to bill a customer and they canceled their job, I
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can't just delete that invoice because it's not going to correct the inventory.
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What I have to do is void that invoice.
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So it undoes everything I did when I enter it.
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And that's a big thing that happens when people's books seem off or get messed up.
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The 1st thing I do is go on audit trail and you really don't want to
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use an accounting system that doesn't have that feature might I add.
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I also have a certification in forensic bookkeeping from West Virginia University.
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So, the 1st thing I'll do is run an audit trail.
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And run reports and look back to see the last time the report was correct.
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That could be 2 months.
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It could be 2 years.
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And then you just work week by week, month by month to make sure that everything's
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corrected, or your books are just good.
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You know, not look right in perpetuity.
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And I also think with an auditor's brain, if I pull a profit and loss
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and I see this, that's a red flag.
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So I don't just come in and enter transactions for people.
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I come in and I analyze and I look with an auditor's mind and I use my skills
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to make sure that information I'm going to enter is right before I touch it.
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Thank God for people like you.
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That's all I have to say.
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Garbage in, garbage out, right?
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And I don't want to be that person.
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I want to make sure that it's right before I touch it.
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Yeah, I can appreciate wanting to get down to the nitty gritty and
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wanting to be totally informed so you can look at the big picture.
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So I can appreciate that part, but the actual doing, you can, you're
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welcome to do it for me anytime.
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Sometimes it's like solving a mystery and you finally find that you're like, yes.
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So do all three have that feature where you can go and dig back into
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the history and that type of thing?
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Yes.
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If all the data's in there, you can look as far as the first
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date of entry in an audit trail.
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You can see when Pretty much when the software was activated
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and what the first entry was.
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And that gives you a start date.
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It almost surprises me that QuickBooks doesn't.
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It's like they, they were the leader of the industry and then they just stopped.
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Know what I mean?
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It's really sad because a lot of their clients are accountants.
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And a lot of accountants are fighting back saying, listen, You're taking away
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so many of our capabilities, and there might be clients that maybe they've
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had a couple different bookkeepers, and they've been through 2 or 3
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software transitions that can make things a little more challenging, too.
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And I think that some small businesses aren't prepared for the cost, not
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just of the software, which is cheaper than QuickBooks in most
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cases, but a bookkeeper or accountant who's onboarding them properly.
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That can be a pretty big upfront cost, but if your end goal is to
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manage it yourself and have an accountant review it monthly, maybe
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reconcile, it's worth it to know that.
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If someone comes in, if the IRS writes you a letter that your books are
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good and trustworthy, do these three softwares connect with QuickBooks?
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So that makes it easier for the accountant?
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Is that what you said earlier?
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Does some of these softwares connect to QuickBooks?
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The accounting softwares don't necessarily connect to QuickBooks.
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What I meant by connecting to QuickBooks is field software that
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maybe techs use in the field or sales people use in the field.
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It's like a CRM with accounting capabilities to track
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financially what your staff.
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How do accountants feel when their clients come in and they're on one of these
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three softwares rather than QuickBooks?
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I think accountants that are knowledgeable in more than
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QuickBooks are okay with these other softwares that aren't necessarily
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as mainstream as QuickBooks is.
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It's a learning curve for a lot of people because they're new.
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And they're not what you're used to, but I think having the broad experience of more
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than just QuickBooks is very important for a widespread, well rounded client base.
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So you said already that there is for small businesses, there is a savings.
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If they go to some of these other alternatives to QuickBooks, right?
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Yeah, that's correct.
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And I'll use the whole QuickBooks as an example.
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So QuickBooks online for a small business that wants to run payroll.
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That let's say has 300 transactions a month could cost close to 200
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a month less a payroll package, which could be 90 a month.
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Whereas if you have that.
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Same capability in Zoho books.
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You're spending 50 QuickBooks online has merchant services.
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So does Zoho books.
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You can process all your credit cards from an app.
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You can process them on the website.
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Their fees, they're pretty equal.
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I've noticed maybe a 0.
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2, 0.
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3 percent savings.
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QuickBooks, the processing time's the same.
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You still have your money the next day.
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Like say, if you use a square or stripe, it's all comparable and you get your
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money in the same amount of time.
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And it all feeds to your checkbook.
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I love that.
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So let's talk a little bit about like new technology.
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Are they incorporating AI now into accounting software?
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They are, they're pushing it pretty big.
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It's nothing you have to accept to do.
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I'm hesitant to use AI as of right now for a few reasons, but it's so new,
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don't know that there's a specific way to track like an audit trail, what
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AI is entering your course have to teach the AI and you have to make sure
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that it's doing things the right way.
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And I know some accountants that have pretty good success with
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it, but they all say I'm spending just as much time checking it.
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It saves them in labor.
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Uh, if they have maybe a bookkeeper or an accounting clerk that they used
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to pay to enter transactions, but somebody still has to scan documents in.
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And I'm at a leave it point right now, as far as AI, I will use it.
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If I'm trying to create a report, I mean, that maybe isn't a standard
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report, but I am not an accountant who uses it for The work I do.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So it's not going to be replacing bookkeepers anytime soon.
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The funny thing is it's not intended to replace bookkeepers.
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It's intended to make their jobs easier.
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But if I have a bookkeeper that I'm paying 40 an hour to enter transactions.
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But now all she's doing is scanning invoices to my system so AI can enter it.
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I'm still paying somebody 40 an hour to scan invoices and upload them.
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There's a lot of sides to it that maybe, or somebody could think, oh I can get
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this program for 80 bucks a month and AI is going to do everything, but it's not.
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You have to tell it what to do.
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And you have to make sure it's doing it right.
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Make me nervous with numbers and things to let AI take hold of it.
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Because I would be the one who's constantly double checking
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everything, accepted everything properly and categorized it properly.
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Right.
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And if the IRS comes calling, you can't say, Oh, well, AI did that.
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You know what I'm saying?
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If an auditor comes calling, using AI is not going to be a valid
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reason to get you out of trouble.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So the three softwares we've been talking about, did they use AI?
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Do they have AI technology in them?
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They zero.
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Mentions it.
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I don't know how robust it is.
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Zoho does, but it's optional.
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It's optional in all of them.
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A lot of the service based softwares are incorporating more and more AI,
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but I just think it's too new to do it when my brain is very analytical and
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it's not going to look back on a four year old profit and loss statement.
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And show me a mistake.
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Yeah, no, I totally get that.
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It's too new.
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It's too new for, I feel like something is important and precise as bookkeeping
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and a role for small businesses.
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So, so if people want to get ahold of you because they need your help, or
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they just want to reach out to you, what is the best way for them to do that?
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So I do offer a free one hour consultation, which can
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be scheduled on my website.
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Which is www.va pro usa.
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My direct line is 9 4 1 5 4 4 0 0 7 8, and my email is sue@vaprousa.com.
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I love that.
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Well, Sue, this has been so informative, even for someone like me who is not
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a big fan, but again, I'm so grateful that there are people out there like
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you who can help small businesses either get started with something that's gonna
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work for them for a long time, or.
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To be able to interpret and understand what they're working
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with now and maybe make it better.
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00:15:21
I love that you like strategically think about what's best for the
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00:15:25
business and the business owner.
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00:15:26
So thank you so much for joining us today.
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00:15:28
So you've been a wealth of information.
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00:15:30
Thank you so much for having me.
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00:15:31
Thanks for listening to the six figure business mastery podcast.
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00:15:36
If you enjoyed listening to this episode and you are ready to leverage video
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00:15:39
marketing on all online platforms, or maybe even start your own video
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podcast, then you need to check out the done for you and done with you
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com and take your business to the next level.