Blog

If you’ve watched some of my webinars, or read my blogs on fixed prices you’ll know that one of the things I talk a lot about is systemising your services.  But what do I mean?

By systemising your services I really mean creating a rulebook, it’s your game after all.  Not just the rules about how you do your bookkeeping but how you run your business.  If you’re anything like I used to be all of these rules are in your head right now.  But maybe like me, you forget some from time to time, or ignore…

Today we caught up with Kate Brown who runs the successful Stenson Office Services in Derby.  Kate had a varied career before becoming a bookkeepers with roles as diverse as working for Harrods and the British Army.  After gaining invaluable experience of small business finance within a construction firm, she set up her bookkeeping business in Derby four years ago.  She is a member of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers and when she's not busy helping business owners with their finance she ca…

One of the first questions asked by new bookkeepers regarding their own accounts is can I claim my training costs as an expense. This is a complex area so lets walk through it slowly.

As a sole trader, the training you gain to enable you to start a business is an enduring asset of the business. It’s something that will allow the business to generate income over a prolonged period of time. The fact that training isn’t tangible doesn’t make it any less of an asset to the business. This is where the…

Time is money. Has there ever been a more dangerous or misleading phrase in the history of the world for entrepreneurs?

Time is not money. Time is not a commodity. We can't save time in the bank, or earn time back. We can't horde time in the corner, or under this mattress.

Time is not money, value is money.

If you remember nothing else from this article, remember this: "People buy what you do, not how long it took you to do it."

Think about that.

If it were true that time is money then …

When I talk to bookkeepers about their pricing, something that comes up time and again is raising fees. There is a certain resistance to this by bookkeepers. More often than not when the topic is discussed I hear things like "My clients won't pay any more" or "If I raise my prices they'll leave."

This is one of those times when the fear of doing something is a lot worse than actually doing it.

We often convince ourselves that bad things will happen, so avoid it at all costs. Our clients are al…

With so many bookkeepers scared to make the move from hourly rates to fixed fees I decided to write another short article highlighting the problems of trading your time for money.

While most would accept that charging by the hour seems so simple for the more risk averse bookkeepers, there are also some major flaws with this approach. There is no upside to increasing your efficiency or investing in newer technology. 

The more efficient you become, the longer and harder you’ll need to work to co…

[MM_Member_Decision isMember='false'] This may sound strange, that you need to track time with fixed fees.  I've spend goodness knows how long saying prices of your services should not be an hourly rate, now I'm saying you need to track time?! This resource is only available to members. To read more, login or join now as a free member [/MM_Member_Decision]

[MM_Member_Decision membershipId='1|2|3|4'] This may sound strange, that you need to track time with fixed fees.  I've spend goodness knows h…

[MM_Member_Decision isMember='false'] I recently spoke at the Bookkeepers Conference on pricing and a large part of that was about price anchoring.  If you’re not sure what price anchoring is, let me explain using this famous optical illusion.

This resource is only available to members. To read more, login or join now as a free member [/MM_Member_Decision]

[MM_Member_Decision membershipId='1|2|3|4'] I recently spoke at the Bookkeepers Conference on pricing and a large part of that was about price…

[MM_Member_Decision isMember='false'] The incredible power of ending your price with a 9 is not a new concept.  In fact, it’s been around for more years than any of us can remember.  But does it really influence buying habits? This resource is only available to members. To read more, login or join now as a free member [/MM_Member_Decision]

[MM_Member_Decision membershipId='1|2|3|4'] The incredible power of ending your price with a 9 is not a new concept.  In fact, it’s been around for more years…

[MM_Member_Decision isMember='false'] As humans we like to think that we’re in control of the decisions we make.  Whether they are important or every day decisions we want to know that we’re actually making them.  The truth is, though, we’re not.  We find decisions very hard to make so use a lot of other information to try to make the task easier. This resource is only available to members. To read more, login or join now as a free member [/MM_Member_Decision]

[MM_Member_Decision membershipId='1…