Day: January 27, 2023

When you outsource bookkeeping for your business, you can save a lot of time. This also allows you to maintain productivity in the core areas of your business. 

 

Keeping your books in order is an important part of your success as a business. As such, we recommend outsourcing because not everyone can handle their books themselves. 

 

Now, you can find a ton of options available for where to outsource bookkeeping. Because of so many choices, we’ve compiled our top recommendations here. With one of these, you can more than likely outsource bookkeeping for your business with ease. 

 

1. EcomBalance

 

 

EcomBalance was created to fill a gap left by bookkeeping services aimed at small to medium-sized eCommerce businesses. Having sold millions of dollars’ worth of product on Amazon, the founders are entrepreneurs well-versed in the eCommerce space. They value long-term client relationships and strive to provide pinpoint accurate numbers. This way, they help clients make more informed business decisions. 

 

EcomBalance aims to help businesses selling on all kinds of online platforms such as Shopify, Amazon, eBay, and Etsy with all their bookkeeping needs. They also extend their services to agencies, consultants, coaches, software companies, freelancers, content creators, and others. 

 

What They Offer

 

• Integration with sales channels and tools: Amazon, Shopify, Ebay, Walmart, Bigcommerce, Xero, Stripe, Square, Intuit Quickbooks
• Onboarding and Assistance connecting all Sales Channels 
• A dedicated team of expert eCommerce bookkeepers inclusive of a Head of Bookkeeping and a Bookkeeping Assistant
• Reliable and process-driven bookkeeping vetted by 2 different levels of bookkeepers
• Monthly financial analysis and reports: Profit & Loss statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow statement by the 15th of each month
• Key takeaways for each month and on-demand recommendations and advice for financial decisions 
• Fast support: 1 day email response and option to text and call your team 
• Tax ready Financials 
• Additional services like Clean Up & Catchup Bookkeeping 

 

Note: EcomBalance can do bookkeeping for international companies, but on a case-to-case basis. Contact them to see if your company is a fit.

 

Plans and Pricing

 

EcomBalance offers regular, monthly bookkeeping services charged by type of service. You can also choose to pay for a full year upfront for a discount. All Clean Up and Catch Up bookkeeping work is charged upfront.

 

EcomBalance also offers customized quotes for clients that don’t fit into standard packages. After a call, they will send you a quote for your bookkeeping billed on a monthly basis. 

 

Add-On Services are one-time up front costs that start at $50/month. Let them know during your onboarding call and they will quote you for these additional needs.

 

For more information, you can visit the Ecombalance pricing page.

 

2. Bench

 

 

Bench aims to help entrepreneurs focus on what they want to do and their goals for their businesses. They do this by taking care of their bookkeeping and tax needs. They care about making finances something that is simple, effortless, and affordable for small businesses. 

 

Their outsourced bookkeeping solutions combine intuitive online bookkeeping software together with expert, human bookkeepers. They currently support thousands of US-based small businesses in a variety of different industries. 

 

Bench is more than numbers; they care about giving business owners the opportunity to focus on what they care about. 

 

What They Offer

 

• Secure account connection and automatic uploading of monthly financial statements with Plaid 
• Dedicated bookkeeper
• Regular monthly bookkeeping – a modified cash basis method 
• Tax Advisory, Tax Preparation and Tax Filing 
• Catch Up Bookkeeping – For business <2 years behind bookkeeping
• Bench Retro – Specialized catch up bookkeeping for businesses >2 years behind
• Hybrid software and small business expert financial solutions
• Personalized expert support – get in touch with a dedicated expert any time you have questions or need assistance 
• Constant Communication – receive regular updates, 1 business day or less response times, schedule review calls with your bookkeeper (end-of-year or monthly check-ins )
• Tax ready and complete financial statements 
• Clear financial reports 
• Real-time financial insights
• Tax filing for Premium Plan subscribers complete with year-round tax support and advice 
• Year-round 1099 reporting and IRS filing forms

 

Additional perks: 

• Receive discounts if you work with a Bench partner like Stripe or Gusto 
• Get a $150 reward and a month of bookkeeping free for every person you successfully refer to Bench 
• Bench is tax-deductible

 

Plans and Pricing

 

You can choose their Essentials plan and pay either monthly ($299/month) or annually (which comes out to $249/month). You can also go for their Premium plan billed monthly ($499/month) or annually at $399/month.

 

Their add-on services like historical bookkeeping and other specialized services are separate from their monthly bookkeeping fees. 

 

For more information, you can visit the Bench pricing page.

 

3. QuickBooks

 

 

QuickBooks by Intuit is one of the top financial management software solutions you can find. Its solutions are built to help anyone from freelancers to small and medium-sized businesses. Their services include instant invoicing, personalized reports, access to organized records of receipts, payroll, tracking expenses, and tax preparation. 

 

QuickBooks Online can be downloaded on your desktop. You can also use it on your phone via their mobile app (IOS and Android). Alternatively, you can also use the tool as a cloud-based solution wherever there’s internet access. 

 

What They Offer

 

• Add-on services and features: point of sale solutions, mobile payments, online banking integration, and more
• An easy to use and intuitive software 
• 650+ integrations with software and tools you already use 
• Cleanup bookkeeping – This is where they thoroughly check your books and bring everything up to date. They also help you with onboarding, setting up your accounts, and connecting your bank. 
• Ongoing bookkeeping – a live bookkeeper to handle your books with complete accuracy every month 
• Automated accounting procedures – This includes syncing bank info and credit card transactions, issuing invoices, reconciling spending, setting payment reminders, tracking income and expenses, etc. 
• Monthly financial statements – Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, etc.
• Personalized financial reports – Get insights to help you make the next business move. Access 20 different pre-built reports like your trial balance or 1099. These reports are also emailed to you and some are downloadable so you can view them on the go. 
• Tax ready financials – Face tax season without the stress
• Access to tax deduction tools

 

Plans and Pricing

 

Only cleanup and ongoing bookkeeping services are available for their Full-Service Bookkeeping plan.

 

Other things not included:

• Sending invoices
• Paying bills
• Management of inventory, accounts receivable, or accounts payable
• Financial advisory services
• Tax advice
• Facilitating the filing of income or sales tax returns
• Creating or sending 1099s
• Payroll management

 

You can view the details of their pricing tiers on the QuickBooks pricing page.

 

4. Pilot

 

 

Another good choice to outsource bookkeeping to is Pilot. Pilot supports the front office dealings of their customers with their financial management solutions. They were made for startups, growing, and small businesses. These solutions include bookkeeping, tax preparation and filing, as well as CFO services. 

 

Their team of financial experts focus on taking care of your books. This leaves you free to concentrate on other business areas. They aim to provide their clients with unmatched quality and accurate, detailed bookkeeping. 

 

What They Offer

 

• Monthly bookkeeping performed by professionals and aided by powerful bookkeeping software
• Accrual basis bookkeeping 
• Hundreds of integrations with tools and software such as Bill.com, Stripe, QuickBooks, Expensify, and Gusto.
• Dedicated financial expert – Provides in-depth onboarding, helps manage books, taxes, and other additional services like assisting in the selection of payroll and providing financial advice 
• Automatic transaction import 
• Connect your banks, credit cards, and payment processors
• Chart of accounts
• Complete monthly financial reports (P&L, Cash Flow, and Balance Sheet)
• Monthly industry-specific metrics to inform business decisions 
• Full service tax preparation, tax filing, and CFO Services (Tax and CFO are additional expenses) 
• For startups – burn rate calculations and reporting 
• For eCommerce businesses – inventory updates

 

Plans and Pricing 

 

Pilot has two pricing tiers: Core and Plus 

 

Core starts at $499/mo billed annually for companies earning $0-$29,000 monthly. The price increases depending on monthly expenses. Plus is a custom pricing tier molded to each client. 

 

Pilot also charges an onboarding /setup fee equal to a month’s worth of bookkeeping. If you are a pre-revenue company, Pilot has a special $200/month discount for the first year.

 

If you want to go more in-depth, check out the Pilot pricing page.

 

5. Xendoo

 

 

Xendoo offers a hassle-free solution to outsource bookkeeping and accounting needs. Their technology solutions, paired with their dedicated team of financial experts, ensure organized and accurate books delivered on time. 

Xendoo’s solutions cater to small and medium-sized businesses. Their team will get to know the ins and outs of your business and industry to help you save money and give you the space you need to grow your business. They love bookkeeping, and they do it so you can do what you love doing.

 

What They Offer

 

• Seamless integration with QuickBooks Online and Xero 
• Set up your dashboard in under 60 minutes with an Onboarding Specialist to help you connect your accounts for view-only access.
• Weekly reconciling of books 
• Dedicated bookkeeper backed by a full team – for accurate, up to date, and compliant bookkeeping 
• Clear and regular communication – They will contact you whenever they need clarification regarding your transactions. 
• Support – email, text, or call your team whenever you have questions. (8am – 6pm EST and after hours with advanced notice) 
• Monthly financials – access them anytime, anywhere
• Tax preparation, tax filing, and tax consulting services -Tax ready financials for tax season 

 

Plans and Pricing

 

Xendoo offers three pricing tiers based on the monthly expenses of a business. The Essential tier $395. The Growth tier is $695. The Scale tier is $995. The tiers are billed on either a monthly or annual basis. 

For more information visit the Xendoo pricing page.

 

Conclusion

 

When you outsource bookkeeping, make sure you know what you need, and then do some research to find the service that fits your needs.

 

 

You can outsource social media marketing to an individual or a team to build your brand. As your brand grows, so will your reputation, reach, and revenue. Just make sure that you know how to hire for the job, especially if you’re looking for remote talent working from another country.

What Is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?

Social media marketing (SMM) uses social media platforms, also known as networks, for brand building. These platforms are where the majority of today’s consumers go to share information. Many brands have developed a presence on these networks. They have also successfully driven traffic from there to their websites and increased their sales.

An effective social media marketing campaign involves these key elements. 

Profile

Your profile includes your profile picture (photo of the face of the company or the logo), your bio (a description, company slogan or tagline), your company name, and important links. You can think of your profile as the summary of who you are as a business. 

Content

Content is the lifeblood of your social media profile and marketing efforts. This is where you communicate your branding through images, videos, and short-form content like reels and stories. The way you curate content should be optimized to attract your target audience. 

Engagement 

This is one thing makes social media marketing so valuable. You can respond to interactions on your posts (likes, comments, shares) and gauge the performance of a particular post or content strategy as a whole. You can also follow other brands, influencers, and customers in order to build a community around your brand.

Paid Advertising

While organic social media advertising is ideal, paid advertising can help facilitate organic results. Paid advertising allows your brand to get in front of more people. Through various algorithms and targeting tools, your ideal customers are able to see these ads.

How Will Outsourcing Social Media Marketing Help My Business?

Social media marketing can benefit your business greatly. You can get your brand in front of more people than you would have otherwise. You can gain a greater level of customer interaction and engagement, too. Furthermore, you can get access to valuable customer data via SMM tools. This data will help you optimize your SMM strategies. 

If you’re wanting to start social media marketing but don’t have the time, have a limited budget, or limited personnel, then outsourcing social media might be the solution for you. 

Let’s go through the benefits of deciding to outsource social media.

What Are The Pros of Outsourcing SMM?

Saves Time

Building and maintaining social media marketing strategies can take up a lot of hours. Think about it. 

• Content creation itself requires a lot of time. You need to come up with engaging material, take the time to create each piece, and maintain a constant stream of this content to keep your customers engaged. We actually know of at least 7 reasons you should outsource content marketing. 
• Speaking of engagement, a lot of time goes into connecting with customers. It’s important to allocate time to answer comments and interact with your customers. 
• Not only that, but you also need to evaluate the efficacy of your strategy and monitor your analytics. 

As you can see, SMM is heavy and demands consistent time and effort. Outsourcing social media management, marketing, and content creation means freeing up time for both you and your teams. This way, you can all focus on other core business processes, objectives, and goals. Even if, for instance, you want to keep a foot in content creation efforts, outsourcing social media alleviates a lot of that pressure and workload. 

Expert Help

When you outsource social media, you are handing the reins over to a team of qualified  professionals. They bring their experience working with other companies and brands and can improve the efficiency of your SMM efforts. They have tried-and-tested processes and strategies. You can even look for people who have worked with businesses similar to yours who can bring valuable industry-specific marketing techniques to the table. 

They can build and significantly improve upon the foundation that you’ve started. They can help you boost engagement and connect better with your followers and target customers. Their knowledge and expertise can help you attract your ideal customers and grow your customer base. Their edge can propel you forward ahead of your competitors, too.

Hiring Flexibility

The great thing about outsourcing social media is that you can pick and choose the type of skill or talent you need, when you need it. For instance, let’s say you need to hire a video editor for a single promotional ad that you might need tweaked a few times over the course of half a year. Instead of hiring and paying an editor full-time, you can outsource the job quickly and cut costs significantly. 

Outsourcing provides you the flexibility to expand temporarily. If you have to pump out more content for a specific week (like during the launching of a new product for instance) you can outsource content creation for that specific week. No need for full-time staffing or lengthy recruitment and hiring processes.

Saves Money

If you’re familiar with outsourcing, you’ll know that one of the main draws is the cost-cutting benefits. The whole process of recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and maintaining a full-time staff member is pricey. It’s even more costly to hire an entire in-house team. In-house staff maintenance requires you to pay salaries, benefits and other overhead costs like utilities and rent. 

Outsourcing social media is much more cost-effective. You pay their rate and potentially some marketplace or agency fees depending on where you hire. Even then, it’s still much cheaper than maintaining full-time in house workers. 

Unlock Scaling Potential 

When you have more time to focus on core business processes and more funds to spend on growth opportunities, you have the recipe to scale your business and reach your goals faster. 

Brand Consistency 

Your brand is your identity. When you outsource social media to a professional team, they have the experience and skillsets needed to help you build and maintain your brand image and voice. Through content creation and customer interactions through your posts, they can help you build your online presence and manage the reputation of your company. 

Software and Tools 

Experts typically come with professional technology. These social media marketers have knowledge and access to technology to better your advertising endeavors. From automation to analytics software, these valuable assets can boost efficiency and bring your SMM to the next level. It also saves you time and money since you don’t have to purchase the software yourself or invest hours learning how to use it. 

What Are The Cons of Outsourcing SMM?

Lack of control

Giving over the wheel to a professional team also comes with the caveat that you don’t have as much control. The management role is passed to them, so you have to put your trust in an outside team to handle your brand image. This may be off-putting to some as you also will have difficulty checking the quality of the work being done. This is why it’s important to check their previous projects and portfolios beforehand. 

Barriers 

If you outsource social media internationally, you could come across some hurdles. For instance, time zones could interfere with content posting schedules. Though there are  cases where a vastly different time zone could be beneficial, it could also put a strain on internal communications. 

The ability to communicate effectively with your outsourced team is imperative. It’s more than just speaking the same language. There could be differences in values and culture. This is why it’s crucial to make sure your working values align during the hiring/interview process. Otherwise, these could be an obstacle to a smooth working relationship. Mastering virtual communication within your business is a key to productivity and profitability.

Company Culture

The risk of dissonance in this area is greater if the outsourced team is not sufficiently onboarded. You need to make sure that you communicate your company’s mission, vision, values, and culture. This can help your outsourced social media team get a better understanding of how your company communicates to your audience. 

You can start by hiring teams that have worked with clients in similar industries. This helps with the general understanding of your industry. Then you need only focus on the messaging and tone of your brand specifically so they can represent your brand as authentically as possible. 

Over Reliance

It can be a great help to have someone else take care of your SMM needs. However, there is a risk that you will be too dependent on the outsourced team, especially if you hire them for long-term work. Make sure you have a backup solution available. Maintain flexibility in case you will need to take over some SMM tasks or switch to a different solution. 

Where Can I Find Someone to Outsource Social Media Marketing to?

Freelance Marketplaces

Marketplaces such as FreeUp and Fiverr give you access to hundreds of options for your social media marketing needs. You can check their profiles, client reviews, ratings, portfolios, and how much it would cost to hire them. 

Agencies

You can outsource your social media marketing needs to an agency that specializes in this area. They typically cost more than freelance marketplace hires, but you get more experience and guarantees. They will likely have worked with more companies and will know what SMM strategy would work best with your company. 

Recommendations

If possible, ask for a referral from co-workers, other businesses, or friends who have worked with an SMM team or individual in the past. This way, you have access to first-hand experiences you can trust. They can tell you if the work they do is high quality and what they learned from working with them. 

Conclusion

When you outsource social media marketing, it’s important to know know exactly what you need for each task you’re outsourcing. Make sure that you also have safeties in place to avoid the pitfalls and manage the risky areas.