TL;DR
Put it in the history books. On September 15, 2022 year of our our Lord my 11 year old son received his first official paycheck.
A strong $45.02 was deposited in his Greenlight bank account* via Gusto Payroll for 3.25 hours of work. My business net income decreased by $54.10 payroll expense.
And there was much rejoicing.
I shared a bit more details about this technical details of this arrangement on this LinkedIn post along a picture of him signing paper employee onboarding forms. P.S. posts that straddle the personal and professional like this are always my best performing social media posts.
I would not say that he has been overly enthusiastic about working. However, he is my most compliant child, so overall the experience has been pretty good. He is a quick learner. But when he got that money, he eyes lit up, and he had an enthusiasm about work that I had not yet seen.
Here is the plan for his first tasks:
I’m trying hard to weave everything together in a tight little bundle of efficiency in my business, so I have recently added a 10 minute “teaching time” to my weekly FreshBooks Office Hours where I’m recording myself just explaining some valuable feature to the members (I’ve done 2 so far). The current members get the replay, but I also hope to eventually make theses vids into some sort of “FreshBooks course” or maybe a “business start up course”, too. Right now I’m just practicing the idea and generating the MP4 files for hopeful future use.
So his main job is going to be to just do very light editing of those recordings and edit the subtitles. He’ll learn to edit and how to type. Side benefits are he will practice his spelling and grammar AND be hearing me talk about business and software! We’ll grow from there.
Next parenting task for me is going to be to have him open a Roth IRA. Here are the options my husband and I are considering for the amount he should invest.
Require that he invests 1/2 of every paycheck.
Allow him to pick the percentage of what to invest.
Tell him we’ll match what he puts in (up to 1/2, since it can’t be more than earnings).
Let him keep all his income, but we stuff his Roth for him. I’m least excited about this plan because a huge part of this whole endeavor is teaching him process of saving part of your income, delayed gratification, not thinking mom and dad are a piggy bank, etc.
Create a “burner” Roth account that he doesn’t know about to stuff the net difference of what he contributes to the account he does know about. I’m thinking that the burner account contributions could eventually add up to a nice little “first condo/house down payment” fund, perhaps as soon as he moves out of the house. Nice surprise to share with him at a future date.
I’m curious what your thoughts are, reader.
One thing I do know. Setting up a Roth and managing this is going to be an administrative pain in my freckled neck. I mean, have you ever use the Vanguard UI? It is terrible. And I’ll be firing all the sweet mother and education parenting cylinders as I make him sit beside me and click around to open an account and do the bank transfers and investigate funds. He is a very floppy/noddle-ish child, so I can already see him slumped and staring off into space during this process. And me grumping that he is not caring more. But we will push through!
Maybe I’ll outsource the Retirement/Roth education piece of this plan to my husband. He is definitely the sweeter of the two of us. :-)
And speaking of outsourcing. Do you know you can “outsource” your customized financial report building for your QBO Clients with Digits Reports Builder? Have you tried it? Click on the image to give it a shot. It’s free. And comment below after you’ve tried it!
Deals Deals Deals
💰 Use code “Hustle” for $200 off the Fast and Easy QBO Payroll Certification Course*. The last day to take the current version of the certification is October 17, so Get.On.This if you don’t want to be caught with only half of the tests complete and lose your work!
Please always send me any news of deals that you hear of that others might benefit from.
Be There or Be Square
Items with a “+” are hosted by me. All these events can be viewed and registered for in the DESCRIPTIONS of each event on the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Calendar.
📅 +Mondays in September: Co-Working time for BSH at 11:00am EST. Join the zoom HERE with the password HUSTLE. FREE! Come and do that painful thing you’ve been putting off.
📅 September 20: Start of the 4 sessions of The Bookkeeping Biz Workshops with Serena Shoup*. These workshops are $47. Remember to use code KATE for 10% off all of Serena’s courses.
📅 +September 28: Solo 401(k)s and Retirement Planning for Bookkeepers and their Clients with Sean Mullaney, The FI Tax Guy. This is the info many of us need for our own retirement accounts AND the info we need to be able to share with our clients (while not giving official financial advice). We are even going to give away some free copies of his new book “Solo 401k: The Solopreneur’s Retirement Account”. I’m so pumped about being a stop on his book tour! I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and am so glad he agreed to speak to us!
📅 October 4: Projects, Progress Invoicing, and Job Costing in QBO*. Royalwise has designed this class to be specific to construction and project-based jobs.
📅 +October 5: Kicking off something special with Gusto. I have to wait another week to share the specific details, but you can see our community calendar for dates. You’ll need to carve out about 5 hours in October to get your brain bigger, have some fun, and some accountability. Only action item now is to make sure you have your FREE Gusto Accountant account* before October 5.
📅 +October 13: How to Build a High Performing Firm. This is the 4th webinar in the series with Financial Cents. If you haven’t watched the first three, watch them here: Financial Cents Playlist.
Featured Posts
🌶️ Nicole Nesbitt Arldt had her first client “break-up” and wants to know how you’ve dealt with losing a client? It can certainly be hard, but what good can come out of it? Go share your encouragement.
🌶️ I did not know what an Enrolled Agent is when I started my bookkeeping business. Make sure you know what one is. This post about the difference between the EA and CPA credential has a fantastic discussion about how you can develop a strong referral relationship with an EA and whether or not YOU should become one.
Help You Hustle
💪 3rd episode in our series with Financial Cents: “How To Successfully Run A Remote Firm”. I liked how he advises to clearly identify what is your internal tech stack vs your client-facing tech stack. Helps it all feel a little less overwhelming.
💪 We deep dive in to “Everything You Need To Know About the QuickBooks Online Payroll Certification” in this interview with Margie Remmers-Davis. What in the world is this cert? Do you need it? How does the test compare to other Intuit certs? Also, Intuit just announced the LAST DAY to take the current QBO Payroll Certification is October 17, so if you want to blast through it before then, you can take the Fast and Easy QBO Payroll Certification Course* and use our code “Hustle”.
💪 Grab the free download from Fast And Easy QBO with helpful tips to pass the QBO Payroll Certification* if you aren’t ready to invest in the Fast and Easy course.
💪 An inspiring firm owner named Keila Hill-Trawick (follow her on Twitter) suggested a podcast called 2Bobs by David C. Allen and Blair Enns. I’ve been taking it in quite a bit. I enjoyed “Firing A Client”, a “Selling to Different Buyer Types”, and “Designing Your Service Offerings” and the parody episode called “Secrets To A Killer Website”, to name a few. This is an ENTREPRENURSHIP podcast.
💪 You know what would really Help You Hustle? Winning a Top 50 Bookkeeping Firm Prize. Nominate yourself or a friend here. This is an inaugural award that is put on by the same folks who put on the Scaling New Heights Conference. Free trip to the conference for winners. There are size categories, so yes, you and your small firm can qualify.
For Fun
😹 Thanks Cathryn Maly for making me laugh on this post. Who else has ever been asked if they “can do it cheaper?”
Jobs
Job seekers, visit the #jobopportunity Topic/Hashtag in the Facebook Group to find these opps. I deliberately make you have to search a bit to get to these opps to help weed out tire kickers.
If you want your job opp featured here, be sure to use #jobopportunity on your post. This posts it to the saved hashtag, which is where these job postings are pulled from.
💼 Kelsey Blackwell is hiring a part-time, work from home position - go read the post - it is VERY detailed in describing the job.
💼 Phylicia Vallier shared VirtForce is looking for a Remote Finance Industry Expert.
💼 Sarah Gooden is looking for a lead bookkeeper who just wants to do bookkeeping - talking with clients not required.
💼 I’m in discussions with Intuit about doing another job fair for them for QuickBooks Live and TurboTax Live jobs. If you are interested in these jobs, can you go vote on this poll? If you are are ready to get the application started, you can apply here.
Don’t forget the standing opps on my Find A Freelance Job article. 1099 and W-2 opps.
Kate Builds In Public
🎢 I submitted an application to do a breakout session at Scaling New Heights 2023. You should apply, too! Shoot your shot! This is the link to apply through September 30. I applied to do a reprise of my presentation I did at BKX about why and how bookkeepers should use video in their business. I think the high performing pros find ways to recycle/repurpose content they create. It is A LOT of work to create a presentation, so the more miles we get out of it, the better. At least that is what I’m trying to do (and have seen done by the people who have been doing this stuff a while).
Do you know a shy person who SHOULD apply to Scaling New Heights because they are wicked smart and have great ideas? Why don’t you specifically encourage them to apply and tell them what topic comes to mind when you thought of them. For instance, I think that Trinity Scott and Carrie Williams should apply to share the story of how 2 solo-preneurs combined merged their businesses to become partners. I think it should be called “Solo-preneurs to Partners: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”.
🎢 This week has been a different kind of busy than my summer weeks. I started back as a volunteer leader in Bible Study Fellowship. It is an international Bible Study I’ve been a part of for years (p.s. we are studying the Old Testament after Solomon’s reign and you can find a class near you if you are interested). That means Tuesday & Thursday mornings are now blocked off through May. I also coordinated and chaperoned a field trip for our little school. Took my son’s 5th grade class to the Air Show for a STEM Day and to see the Blue Angels Demo Team. So Friday was a no-work day. Getting to prioritize commitments like these are an incalculable perk of being my own boss.
🎢 Office Hours Service Update:
I got 2 new members of my office hours service. Yea! But I lost 1 member! Boo! The one who left is a guy who has grown his NetSuite consulting business to over $60k per month and wanted someone local to him to fully outsource to (which I was not going to do for him).
I received notice of a $300 referral fee from Gusto from a member who just recently became an S-corp and needed payroll. And that same guy booked an additional hour of training with me (at $125/hour) to just screen share through Gusto with him because he wanted dedicated time to walk him through the set up. This is exactly how the little ecosystem I’m trying to build is supposed to work.
From The Vault
⚡ Since I’ve mentioned that QBO Payroll Certification several times, are you aware that it helps you raise your ranking in the ProAdvisor Directory. Make sure to listen to this interview “How To Improve Your QuickBooks ProAdvisor Ranking” with Bill Von Fumetti which is chock full of tips to make sure you are ranking in the Top 3 when potential clients search for you.
Keep hustling!
Kate
-Chief Hustler-
P.S. Have you gotten your copy of my eBook The Bookkeeping Side Hustle Guidebook with Foreword by Hector Garcia?
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I am down right rabid about transparency and full disclosure. If a link has a * beside it, it means it is either an affiliate link where I might receive compensation if you make a purchase, at no additional charge to you. Or it could be a tracking link that another business provided me to see how many readers click on that link.
Thanks for the encouragement to apply to speak at accounting conferences.
I’m building my business through speaking at conferences where my ideal clients hang out. This means I prioritize watering hole conferences over conferences for my own self-improvement. BUT, if I were selected to speak, it would change my priorities.
I spoke at Podfest and FinCon this year. I was also invited to speak the RV Entrepreneur round table, but it was the same exact dates as FinCon. I’m actively looking for additional watering hole conferences for my digital creator niche.
For your son, I vote for option 2 & 3 - allow him to pick the percentage and match up to 1/2.
I wouldn't require a certain amount - he may resent that and your lesson on the benefits of saving may totally backfire because of that. By allowing him to choose, you are letting him practice making financial decisions and see the effects of them in a safe environment. And by matching, you are teaching him about the benefits of employer matching which will serve him well in the future.
However, before letting him choose the percentage, I would ask him how many years he wants to work and then show him this: https://images.app.goo.gl/phty1gbV38XzNApG8 and discuss how the more he saves, the shorter the amount of time he will need to work.
You could also set up a burner Roth to give as a gift later, but in the interest of financial education I would do that in addition to 2 & 3, not instead of.