How small businesses work 

My friend recently started his own plumbing business after years of working for a bigger firm. 

He was immediately surrounded by friends and family with enough work to get him started and busy for months.  All without offering “Mates rates”. 

So, getting enough work is not the problem these guys face.  Yes, a few of them face difficulties maintaining a profitable flow of work, and that comes down to marketing over the longer term and providing a service that people value.  I will cover that in my next post.  But for now, let me mention the first thing my friend said to me, even before his first month of trading was finished. 

“Dave, he said, the work is great, and I can even handle the bookings and projects, but it's the day-to-day admin that’s already killing me. I hate it”. 

I wondered why he thinks it’s so hard, so I asked a few more questions.  Turns out he decided to do his own bookkeeping and accounting using QUICKBOOKS. 

And, so lies the problem.  You have heard me go on and on about the evil villains at the large SaaS companies and how they force small businesses onto a never-ending payment for their pointless software.  Here we go again. 

Quickbooks is a tool for an Accountant, or even for a Bookkeeper. It’s not a tool for a Plumber.  It will eat up your time and give you nothing in return.  Then, at the end of the tax year, it will give you the basic tools to make your legal tax return digitally.   

Let me be clear – Quickbooks or Xero are not suitable tools for small business Owners.  They are tools for Accountants.  An Accountant will give the business Owner advice on the best way to pay less tax.  Quickbooks will not.  An Accountant will ask questions when something appears to be wrong, Quickbooks will not.  An Accountant will save you time, Quickbooks will not.  An Accountant will save you more money than they cost. Quickbooks will not. 

I told my friend, “Mate, let an Accountant use those tools.  You just get on running your business and let your own easy to use systems send the information to your accountant”. 

Zway is a CRM for small business that allows you to create a full products and services catalogue in less than an hour. Done once and forgotten. 

Zway is a CRM that allows small businesses to create quotes and invoices for clients in seconds, using your product & Services catalogue. 

Zway is a CRM that keeps records and produces reports to send to an accountant as you go. Without your input. 

Zway is an Inventory and Stock Management tool that allows small businesses to buy whatever they want and keeps track of expenses and receipts as you go. 

Then, at the end of the period (monthly or quarterly normally), it sends a file to your Accountant with everything they need to make your tax digital and keep you legal. 

TLDR. Summary – Small business Owners should not be spending any time messing with accounting software.