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"Two years ago, I had no clue about how I was doing financially. I had operated a small business since 1996 and had just separated from my husband and started running my own household as well. A sole proprietor for many years, I had recently incorporated, but I still had no business management skills at all. My accountant, trying to keep things simple for me, had simply given me a sheet of yellow legal paper on which he had written out the amounts of checks I should write from my business account each month—what to pay myself, what to pay in taxes, what to send to my retirement account. He had given me the additional instruction to “take distributions as you need them,” and said he’d sort it all out at tax time each year.
On the personal side, I was running my household from a combination of the income I earned and support checks from my ex-husband, and relying on a “bumper” of cash leftover from the sale of our martial property to keep me from bouncing checks. I had never once in my adult life created or attempted to live by a household budget. If I needed it (or wanted it), I bought it and crossed my fingers that I could really afford it.
As a result of all of this, I was running my business basically month to month, constantly worrying that I wouldn’t be able to pay myself or my bills if client payments didn’t arrive exactly on time. And on the home front, I managed to overspend my income by more than $10,000 in a single year. (Thank goodness for that “bumper,” but oh, how I squandered a large portion of it!)
Finally, I had had enough, and I asked Earl Kelly, a personal friend who I knew worked as a QuickBooks advisor and business consultant, to help me get a handle on things. Specifically, I asked Earl to help me set up QuickBooks and keep better track of my spending. My thought was that we’d just start at the beginning of 2008 and try to do a better job moving forward.
But Earl had a different idea: why not start at my date of incorporation on the business side of things, and go back to the day I started life in my new home on the personal side? What he was suggesting at first seemed impossible. There were mountains of unfiled, unsorted papers and records, for both business and home, in seemingly permanent residence in one corner of my home office. And he wanted me to go through everything, sort and organize it all, and then, item by item, input into QuickBooks every expenditure I had made for both business and home over the course of nearly 2 years—literally typing in data scrawled in my checkbook registers and gleaned from my monthly bank statements. As if that weren’t daunting enough, he also proposed to teach me the basics of running my business, developing and living within a budget, and keeping appropriate records all at the same time. Oh, and there was also the little matter of rcconciling months and months of back bank statements.
I was completely overwhelmed, but somehow, over the course of a couple of months, I did it. And although I was skeptical at the start, I can say now that that exercise, and the ongoing work I have done with Earl since, has been nothing short of life-changing. The mere act of inputting all that data taught me the mechanics of the QuickBooks software. The more I typed in, the smaller my piles of disorganized papers shrank. The lessons Earl provided on profit and loss reports and balance sheets and tax law showed me not just what I was supposed to be doing, but why. But most importantly, with the knowledge of what I had spent now organized at my fingertips, my planning increased and my spending decreased, and, almost magically, I had control of both my day-to-day spending decisions and my long-term financial health. And guess what? I wasn’t doing too badly.
Since then, I have continued to follow Earl’s advice and to learn more each month about how best to run my business and my home. My business is still a small shop run out of my home. But today, it’s thriving, and we’re now focused on growing my client base, diversifying my services, and building the assets I’ll need for a more comfortable retirement. With a few mouse clicks, I can tell you exactly what I have earned and spent since January 2007 in my business, and since August 2006 in my home. Using QuickBooks, I can see what gasoline has cost me for the past year, what I have spent on food each month, how much more I need to save before I can put a new roof on my house. I have zero credit card debt. And I can tell you where almost every penny that has passed through my hands has gone.
When it comes to financial matters, what Earl has always said is absolutely true: knowledge is power. Today, I don’t have to hold my breath and hope my clients pay me on time. I don’t have to live in fear that a pipe will spring a leak or my car will break down before the end of the month. Instead, I’m delaying gratification on discretionary spending, saving for the things I know I’ll need, and truly MANAGING my business and my household.
It’s a great feeling. And I couldn’t have done it without the endless patience, gentle guidance, and always sound advice of Earl Kelly."
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| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by Charles Teets, President, Vaxicom Inc.
"Earl has been a godsend to my company. I have tried for years to manage my books on my own. The late fees, and penalties were adding up and I figured it would be cheaper to hire someone, than pay all these fees to the IRS.
In comes Earl. He came on board with us in March of 08. Immediately he had me looking at how I do things, and seeing if we could find easier ways to do them. He saved me hours on account reconciliation alone, by showing me how to use a feature of QuickBooks I didn't even know existed.
He helped clean up the huge mess I had made of our books, and has shown me many ways to save both time and money. Not just in operating expenses, but in taxes as well.
He's very flexible, and quick to answer questions. He's very down to earth and easy to talk to. I was apprehensive about hiring someone to help with our books, but after meeting with Earl, it eased all my anxiety and I knew it would work well.
I can not stress how much of a help Earl has been, and how much money and time he has saved us. I highly recommend Earl if you, like me, need help."
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