We really do believe in free resources (see our earlier post about this here), and we want to do everything we can to help small businesses succeed. Accordingly, we are offering free Quickbooks setup or a free review of your existing Quickbooks file.

You might already have an in-house bookkeeper, but doesn’t it complicate things when they have to go out of town or want to take some vacation and you fall behind? Or maybe you are usually fine doing all the accounting yourself, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a backup plan for when you are overwhelmed with work or have to deal with personal crises?

As of today, we have moved our office to a new location. I apologize if we have been a little less responsive the past few days; we didn't have real internet access until about an hour ago. The new neighborhood is nicer, more friendly, and better yet, it has a backyard.

You've probably noticed the website looks a bit different--we finally uploaded the full version on Monday. Please check back frequently as we add content, and feel free to send us requests or suggestions of what you'd like to see.

In addition, we have a new assistant on our team. Laura will introduce herself in the next week or so.

Backyard Bookkeeper is looking for an office assistant to do some basic clerical work and data entry, with the potential to grow into a full-blown bookkeeping job. We will train the right person.

We've noticed over the past year or so that multi-level marketing and direct sales companies have really taken off--probably because of the recession and the fact that people are looking for ways to earn extra income. If you are one of these, we wish you the best of luck in your new business! I'm not much of a sales(wo)man myself, and I admire those that are good at it.

One of the most wonderful things about the world we live in today is that knowledge is free. Anyone can go to the library and check out books on accounting, taxes, or Quickbooks. Anyone can go online and research a particular question or problem, and if the answer hasn't already been published somewhere, you can pose the question on a public forum and have it answered by experts within days or even hours. This is why no one at Backyard Bookkeeper will ever treat our knowledge as proprietary.

I'd like to say a few words about what Backyard Bookkeeper does. Alex said to me today, "I know what sets you apart from other bookkeepers: the difference is that you do bookkeeping because you love it, and others do bookkeeping because their clients think it's boring." It's true! I do love bookkeeping. I love to organize, figure out solutions to unique problems, set up good systems, find and fix mistakes, help people stop making mistakes, get clients caught up, and . . . . The list goes on.

Backyard Bookkeeper was born in April 2008 when I listened to someone complain about how long it took him to do the taxes for his business because he hadn't ever gotten around to investing in accounting software. He dreaded doing his taxes every year because it could take him up to three weeks to tally everything up by hand.

Isn't it time to clear off your desk, clean out your files, and finish up those old projects you've been meaning to get to? I can help you catch up, clean up, and keep up. Contact me at backyardbookkeeper@gmail.com for a free consultation.