Linda Artesani explains how cloud bookkeeping replaced old desktop systems that required coordinating login times. When choosing a bookkeeper, check Google reviews, verify niche expertise like law firms or real estate, and look for Advanced ProAdvisor certification, which only about 10% of bookkeepers hold.
Chapters
Hi there, Linda Artesani, Artesani Bookkeeping. So I'm here to talk a little bit about bookkeeping services that are close to you or virtual service, which one should you choose? And what's the best route for you? So I can honestly tell you that I've been doing this cloud-based for 6 years now. Prior to that, I was more of a local bookkeeper, although I should say probably not. I've been doing this longer virtually than most. I got started back in the LogMeIn days because I moved here, moved to Florida over 10 years ago. So it's been a while that I've been doing— I lived in Rhode Island, I had local clients. And then as I started to grow my business, I was able to expand my reaches and work with LogMeIn and logging into people's books. It was a painful process using the QuickBooks Desktop. I'd have to arrange to log into their computer because they couldn't be using the computer at the same time as me, which meant that I either worked late at night or weekends. It was just not a great optimal— you always had to coordinate it with them. Sometimes they'd say give you a specific time and then they would log in and it was just kind of painful. And then using the accountant's copy was my other resource, which that was okay, but it wasn't the greatest because lots of times you couldn't work in anything payroll, problems with syncing and bringing the file back in. Oh, I'm having bad memories of all that stuff. So now today you can have bookkeeping services. Can your bookkeeper— bookkeeper could be in Hawaii and you live in Florida, right? In fact, I know a very good bookkeeper in Hawaii. So anyway, How do you choose? So a lot of times you'll pop into Google to find someone and you can look for bookkeeping service near you, right? You can maybe try to find somebody if you want to reach out locally to that person and, and just see, do your research, look for reviews, look to see if they've got Google reviews, see if they've got other reviews, read the reviews. You know, do the research, the back work behind that to find somebody, especially if they're not local, right? So you want to make sure that they're, they're They're smart in their industry and know what you are selling, or at least know your industry inside and out. You know, I work with attorneys and law firms, and that's specialized. If you're a contractor, that's another specialty. Not necessarily have to pick somebody who's an accountant or bookkeeper that is in the industry that you're in, but it's helpful if you can find someone that specializes in your niche. Get professional and personal recommendations. So that's also helpful. And even if you don't, you don't know somebody locally, if you get referred by somebody else, that's probably one of the better ways. So somebody maybe who's using a bookkeeper and knows that they're— they've got a good accountant and there's somebody that they're using that maybe they can share their name with you so you can use them as well. There's a lot of us that work part-time as far as like You know, have multiple clients. And because of automation, we're able to have many, many more. I was just talking to my, my colleague Sarah about that. We were talking about the old days when we had maybe 7 or 8 full-service clients, and that was enough to handle a good week plus, and how different it was when we had our fingers into everything. But now with automation and being able to outsource some of the services, We're able to grow our businesses and get a lot larger, but it's a lot to maintain. So you want to find somebody who's able to— I like to call it like spinning the plates, like being able to keep everything working and synchronizing well. And truly, reviews are going to help you find that. So if you are looking for a bookkeeping company, someone who's got the credentials, certified online, if using online, Certified Online ProAdvisor, look for that Advanced ProAdvisor. That one has passed an even higher test. I think 10% of all the ProAdvisors are advanced. It's a small number. It's a harder test. It takes a lot more time to be invested to get that certification. So highly recommend looking for that first. You will pay more for it. But as your mother always said, you get what you pay for. So know that too. And yeah, if you want or are interested in services with me, I'd love to help you. I do specialize working with law firms, also real estate. I own real estate. So I've been in that industry a very long time. And also I love working with startups. So any of those 3 industries, feel free to reach out. And if you don't know, if you don't think that I would be a fit for you, you can always reach out to me for a referral. So thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed. And until next week, bye now.
