Start where your books actually are

Eight questions about how your business runs. Under two minutes, nothing to look up, and no score at the end.

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You could switch accounting software tomorrow and almost nothing would change.

The new one would still ask you which category. It would still ask whether that purchase was an asset or an expense. It would still hand you a report at the end of the month and expect you to know whether it was telling you the truth.

The software solved the arithmetic a long time ago. Nobody ever taught the language.

That gap is where a lot of solopreneurs get stuck, and it has very little to do with how organized you are or how hard you have been trying. Plenty of people running good businesses have books they cannot quite vouch for, and they have been carrying that quietly for a while.

This is not a test. Nothing gets scored, nothing gets graded, and there is nothing here you need to prepare for.

What happens after you answer

Your answers tell me one thing: what your books need first. There are only a few real possibilities.

  • There are no books yet, or a spreadsheet that has been doing the job. That is a clean build, not a cleanup.
  • The books are in good shape and mostly need to move. Those come over as they are.
  • The picture is not clear yet. Looking first is what keeps a small job from quietly becoming a large one.
  • Your business needs something I do not do. Physical products sold through an online cart, inventory carried in your books, sales tax you want handled for you, or invoicing by job with materials and labor broken out. If that is you, I will say so plainly and point you toward someone better suited.

Selling online is not on that list. Courses, memberships, digital products, anything that runs through a checkout or a booking platform: that is ordinary, and it is most of who I work with. Sales tax is not automatically on the list either. If you collect it and file it yourself, that is ordinary and I record it like anything else. What I hand off is figuring out what you owe and filing it, along with physical goods sold through a cart.

That last possibility is a real outcome, not a formality. It is better for both of us that it comes up now rather than three months in.

A few things this is not

It is not an upload. Nothing gets connected, nothing gets scanned, and you do not need to go find a login.

It is not a quote. Nobody gets a number from me before I have actually seen the file. This just tells us which conversation we are having.

It is not a sequence. You answer, and within one business day you get one email back from me, naming where I think you should start and what the next step is if there is one. Nothing drips afterwards.

So I can send you the answer. Nothing else goes to this address.

1. What kind of work does your business do?
2. Which of these are part of your business?

Check all that fit.

3. Roughly what did your business bring in last year?
4. What are you using to keep your books right now?
5. How's that working out?
6. Do you use anything other than your accounting software to send invoices or take payments?

Check all that apply.

7. When were your accounts last reconciled?
8. Who's been doing your books?

Whatever you want to tell me. How far behind you feel, what happened with the last person, what you're worried I'll find. There's no wrong answer here, and nothing you say will surprise me.

How did you hear about me?

That's in. Thank you.

I read these myself, and you will hear back from me within one business day with where I think you should start. If it turns out your business needs someone who specializes in something I do not do, I will tell you that plainly and point you in the right direction.

Nothing else happens in the meantime. No sequence, no follow-ups you didn't ask for.

If you'd like something to look at while you wait, here are three sample reports, so you can see what a client actually gets at the end of a month.

There is no wrong answer here, and nothing you say is going to surprise me.