You finish the jobs for the day, deal with the team, answer the phone, quote the next job... and then the admin is still sitting waiting for you.
Invoices haven't gone out.
Supplier bills need sorting.
Someone still hasn't paid you.
There's a pile of receipts somewhere.
You haven't looked at the job costing.
And Xero probably has a few things that you'll "sort out later".
Sound familiar?
You don't need more hours in the day.
You Started a Trade Business.
Not an Admin Job.
At the beginning, doing the books yourself probably made sense.
Then the business grew.
Now you've got a team to manage, more jobs on the go, more supplier bills, more customers to invoice and a whole lot more moving parts.
But somehow… you're still doing the admin.
Or your partner is.
Or one of your team is "helping out" when they get a chance.
And the bigger the business gets, the harder it becomes to keep everything straight.
Does Any of this Sound Like Your Week?
✓ You finish the job but don't invoice till days later.
✓ You're paying bills, but you're not always sure whether you have paid.
✓ Payroll comes around ridiculously quickly every week.
✓ You've got Fergus, Xero or another job management system, but you know you're probably only using half of what it can do.
✓ Supplier invoices arrive and you're not sure they've all been allocated to the right jobs.
✓ Customers owe you money and nobody has had time to chase them.
✓ Your accountant asks you questions you need to go digging for answers to.
✓ You want to know whether your jobs are actually profitable - not find out six months later when the accountant tells you.
And every time you try to get on top of it… another job comes in.
The Problem Isn't That You're Bad at Admin
The problem is that you're trying to do too many jobs.
You're the business owner. But you are also the...
And probably the person everyone rings when something goes wrong.
Something has to give.
And to often, the stuff that gets pushed to the bottom is the work that actually keeps the cash moving through the business.
What If Someone Else Just Took Care Of It?
Imagine finishing a job and knowing the invoicing is being handled.
✓ Supplier bills are being processed and allocated.
✓ Customers who haven’t paid are being followed up.
✓ Payroll gets done.
✓ Xero stays up to date.
✓ Your jobs are being costed.
✓ The admin isn’t quietly piling up behind you.
And when you want to know what's happening in the business, you don't have to spend three hours pulling everything together first.
Not another person asking you what needs doing every five minutes.
Someone taking ownership of it.
Because Bookkeeping isn't Just About Xero
If you run a trade business, the numbers start long before they reach Xero.
If those steps aren't working properly, having beautifully reconcilled accounts doesn't solve the problem.
You need the whole process working together.
Because that's how you get better information, better cash flow and a much clearer picture of whether your jobs are actually making money.
Maybe You've Already got Fergus.
But it's not quite working like you thought it would.
You bought Fergus because it was supposed to make running the business easier. And it can. But software doesn't fix a broken process by itself.
Then you're still missing the information you need.
Fergus is a tool. It's not the system.
Just like having a hammer doesn't mean you've got a process for building a house.
The real magic happens when your team, your processes, Fergus and Xero all work together.
What are the Three Things You'd happily Never Do Again?
Don't think about everything you could delegate. Think about the things you would happily hand over tomorrow. Maybe it's:
What would make the biggest difference if you knew it was simply handled?
That's usually where you should start.
You're Probably at the Point Where Doing It Yourself Is Costing You More
It's easy to look at bookkeeping or admin support as another business expense. But what's doing it yourself costing you?
There comes a point where doing everything yourself isn't saving money anymore.
It's getting in the way of running the business.
You Don't Need to Know Exactly What You Need yet
Maybe you've landed here because you searched for a bookkeeper in Auckland. But bookkeeping might only be part of the problem.
That's okay.
You don't need to arrive with a perfectly organised list of everything you want someone else to do.
Start with:
What's taking up too much of your time?
What's constantly getting pushed back?
Where is money getting held up?
What do you keep saying you'll sort out when things get quieter?
Because if you've been waiting for things to get quieter... you probably already know that is not happening.
What would Business Look Like If you Weren't Doing all of this?
Or simply know that when a job is finished… the paperwork isn't coming home with you.
That's the goal.
Ready to Get Some of it off Your Plate?
You don’t need to decide on a service or work out exactly how many hours of help you need.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us what’s driving you nuts, what’s taking up your time and what’s not getting done. We’ll figure out where support would make the biggest difference.
