Welcome to the Boomtown blog. Most posts here are about bookkeeping, QuickBooks, and the parts of running a small business that nobody warned you about. I write for self-employed folks who want their books to make sense without becoming an accountant in the process.
3 More QuickBooks Reports Worth Running Every Month
Your P&L and Balance Sheet do most of the monthly heavy lifting, but a few other reports earn their keep too. Here are three QuickBooks Online reports worth pulling each month, what they show, and how to use them.
Why You Should Reconcile Your Bank Accounts Every Month
If there's one bookkeeping habit I won't budge on, it's monthly reconciliation. Here's why, and what happens when people put it off.
How to Give Your Bookkeeper Access to QuickBooks Online
When you hire a bookkeeper, one of the first things they'll ask for is access to your QuickBooks Online file. Here's how to set that up, and the security concerns worth knowing about first.
How to Use the Audit Log in QuickBooks Online
The QuickBooks Online Audit Log is one of the most useful features most users never look at. Here's how to find it, what it shows, and the real situations where it'll save you.
A Step-by-Step Month-End Bookkeeping Routine for Small Businesses
Closing out your books each month is one of the highest-leverage habits in a small business. Here's a step-by-step routine you can actually follow, plus what to do if you've fallen behind.
How to Read Your P&L and Use It to Plan Your Year
Your Profit & Loss statement is the report you'll look at most often as a small business owner. Here's how to read it, what to actually look for, and how to use what you find to plan your year.
How I Cleaned Up Two Years of Bookkeeping for a Yoga Studio
A real case study of cleaning up two years of bookkeeping backlog at a yoga studio: three common problems, the fixes, and what changed afterward.
3 Common Bookkeeping Mistakes Small Business Owners Make
The three bookkeeping mistakes I see most often, why they cause real headaches at tax time and beyond, and what to do instead.
3 Practical Tips for DIY Bookkeeping
If you're handling your own bookkeeping, these three tips will save you real time and prevent some of the most common DIY headaches.
Spreadsheets vs QuickBooks: Which Does Your Small Business Actually Need?
Should you track your bookkeeping in a spreadsheet or move to bookkeeping software? An honest comparison, including the situations where each one is genuinely the right call.
How to Create and Send Client Invoices in QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online's invoicing is solid if you need it, but it's not automatically the right tool for every business. Here's how to create and send invoices in QBO, plus when it's the right fit.
How to Use Bank Rules in QuickBooks Online (Without Messing Up Your Books)
Bank rules are one of the biggest time-savers in QuickBooks Online, and also one of the most common places I see DIY bookkeeping go sideways. Here's how to set them up in a way that actually helps.
5 QuickBooks Online Features You're Probably Not Using
QuickBooks Online has features most small business owners never turn on because nobody told them they exist. Here are five that are genuinely worth using, plus honest notes on when each one is worth the effort.
How to Set Up QuickBooks Online: A Step-by-Step Guide
You paid for your QuickBooks Online subscription, you logged in, and now you're staring at an empty file. Here's the order I'd set things up in, and what each step actually involves.
How to Track Unpaid Invoices in QuickBooks Online
If you invoice clients, knowing who owes you what (and how long they've owed it) is one of the simpler things QuickBooks can do for you. Here's how to run the report and what to do with what you find.
How to Reconcile Your Bank Accounts in QuickBooks Online
Reconciling your bank accounts in QuickBooks Online is how you know your books actually match reality. Here's how to do it, and what to do if you're months behind.
How to Clean Up Your Chart of Accounts
If you're doing your own bookkeeping, your Chart of Accounts is the foundation everything else rests on. Here's how to set yours up in QuickBooks Online so running a report stops feeling like a chore.