If you are a Professional Organizer and starting your own organizing business, you are probably raring to go and excited to get out there and start organizing the world! And while that enthusiasm will serve you well, before you get too deep into organizing your clients, you want to do some organizing of your business first.
In particular, you’ll want to organize your âbooksâ â after all, bringing in income is probably a big reason why youâre in business and you’ll need to keep track of it.
QuickBooks is a great way to organize and manage your business finances. In addition to making sure youâre getting paid and paying vendors on time, having your bookkeeping in order will help you look like the organized Professional Organizer and business owner that you are!
So how do you do that? As a new Professional Organizer, a spreadsheet can be a great way to start out because it is simple to use. You can create your own categories (check with your accountant or look at a Schedule C for a guideline). If you want to skip the work, our Organizer Accounting Spreadsheet is available for purchase under Organizer Forms &Â Resources, and is already set up with tabs for income, expenses, mileage and a chart of accounts to guide you.
However, if you want to take your bookkeeping to the next level, something you will likely need to do as your business grows, we recommend setting up and using QuickBooks. It is more work to set up, but ultimately, it is an accurate, efficient and of course, organized way of doing your books.
First, itâs helpful to understand some basic QuickBooks terminology, so you donât feel like youâre operating in a foreign accounting language!
- Vendor – anyone you pay for goods, materials, services, etc.
- Customer – anyone that pays you for goods or services
- Chart of Accounts – a list you create that defines each class of items for which money is spent or received. It is used to organize the finances of your business and to segregate expenditures, revenue, assets and liabilities.
- Item List – the items you’ve set up for the services and goods you buy and sell, as well as special items that perform calculations (subtotals, discounts, and sales tax). These items appear as line items on your sales and purchase forms.
- P&L – A Profit and Loss or P&L is a financial statement that summarizes revenues, costs and expenses. This is your go-to report for seeing how much money youâre making and what youâre spending where.
To help you get started, weâve outlined the basic steps to setting up QuickBooks for your organizing business in our on-demand e-Course, Money 201: Setting Up and Using QuickBooks, which will walk you through the process of getting up and running with QuickBooks, complete with screen shots showing you what to do!
Organizing U has the Professional Organizer Training you need to succeed at every stage! Developed by 15-year veteran and Certified Professional OrganizerÂź Sarah Buckwalter, Organizing U offers on-demand Training and Education Programs, comprehensive Business Forms and personalized Business Coaching to help you start, run and grow a successful organizing business.
