The super simple tech stack that helped me run a more efficient bookkeeping business, while keeping my clients happy and my sanity intact.
The early days of my business brought a lot of frustration and – let’s be honest – tears.
Starting a bookkeeping business is all fun and games until you have to figure out the tech stack that actually helps you manage your time effectively without giving you more of a headache than you already have.
But, if you’re anything like me, you’re wondering what a tech stack even is, let alone why you need one.
Here’s what no one told me: A tech stack is just the apps and software that you use to run your business. That’s it. It’s just fancy internet jargon for software.
So, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about what a bookkeeper like you might actually need in their “tech stack” to make their bookkeeping business run smoothly with as few mental breakdowns as possible.
The tech to manage your bookkeeping clients.
1. Quickbooks Online
First up, we have the obvious: Quickbooks Online.
In a world where it’s easy to give your opinion, the bookkeeping world sure does have one about Quickbooks Online.
Quickbooks Online gets a bad rap because it’s not as “robust” as other platforms out there. And to those haters, I say “so what?” Honestly, though – it depends on the industry you serve. If you need to keep track of inventory and such for brick and mortar shops, then yeah, maybe you don’t want Quickbooks Online. But service providers and even e-commerce do very well on QBO.
I use it for: bookkeeping
2. Google Suite
Next up, Google Suite.
A super quick way to get potential clients to not take you seriously is to have an @gmail e-mail address. Or, even worse, an @hotmail address 😱
Here’s the thing, you’ll want a professional email with an @yourbusinessname address. Google Suite is inexpensive, easy to use and you get the Google Drive as an added bonus.
The functionality is the same as you’re used to with any gmail address and you can even have more than one email for free that just gets directed to your main address.
It’s pretty great honestly. Plus, spoiler alert: it integrates with another app I’m going to recommend.
I use it for: email and virtual meetings, calendar, document storage
3. Slack
Okay let’s keep this train moving. Let’s talk about Slack.
Slack is a communications app that pretty much covers all the bases. You have voice text, emojis, notes and you can even upload attachments.
I like to have one channel per client where we can throw out ideas, ask quick questions and generally just get the ball rolling without having a million email threads to wade through.
There’s nothing worse than knowing you client emailed you a task but you can’t remember what e-mail thread it’s in. Am I right?
Slack is searchable, has an iPhone app and is SO easy to use. It’s just like texting, but elevated. Highly recommend.
I use it for: client communication
4. Notion
Finally, we need to take a moment for Notion.
I was hesitant when it came to notion, but I’d tried just about every other client management tool out there and they were all underwhelming. The ones made specifically for bookkeepers and accountants cost an arm and a leg and frankly, were all still lacking a certain lust factor.
There’s nothing quite like being able to make things the exact way that you want them that just hits the spot.
Notion takes a minute to get used to because it’s so robust and can do almost anything you want it to. I love it for project management and use it daily to check off tasks for clients, check which client is in what stage and just overall keep my sh** together.
The best part is that you can assign tasks to team members and then they can take care of stuff that you don’t want to! Just kidding. Kind of. You do want to delegate tasks to your team and know what they’re working on and what progress they’ve made. Notion helps with that.
And because I know Notion can be super overwhelming, I’m sharing my client management template with you here. Feel free to make it your own.
And did I mention the program is free to use? Cause it is.
I use it for: client project management and workflow
The tech to make your bookkeeping business run more efficiently.
Okay friends, we’re on the second half of this list. Are you still with me? Good. Because this is where it gets juicy. The next three apps that I use help with business functionality. My business runs so much more smoothly and is so much more organized because of these three apps.
5. Honeybook
This is the app I use to keep all of my proposals, invoicing and contracts in one place.
Basically, any time someone fills out an inquiry form, schedules a meeting or asks for a proposal – it runs through Honeybook. Honeybook creates a new project for that person and all of the communication is kept here which is GREAT because you also get read receipts. IYKYK.
You can have your clients pay you automatically through Honeybook so that you don’t have to worry about bothering them every month. They can also sign their contract directly through here without having to have yet another program/app to remember the login to.
Honeybook has been so great for integrating my calendar so that my time is blocked when I have a meeting or something personal with my kids going on. It just won’t allow a meeting to be booked during that time. And speaking of meetings, it’s so easy to just give leads your link if they ask for it so you can get that discovery call scheduled and on the books.
I use it for: scheduling, calendar, contracts, proposals, invoicing and onboarding automations, lead forms
6. Scribe
It’s time to talk about Scribe.
Scribe is fairly new to my tech stack, but it’s SO good. It’s an AI tool (I know, not my favorite either) that reads your mouse clicks and creates a step-by-step instructional with pictures.
This is great for onboarding processes, training new team members on your systems and procedures or if you do one-off projects, this is a great way to get instructions to your clients.I highly recommend it! They have a free version and a paid one. I’m on the paid one, but the free version works well for starting out.
I use it for: client onboarding, SOP writing, team onboarding
7. Sunsama
Finally, we’ve made it to the star of the show: Sunsama.
I cannot tell you how many task management systems I’ve tried. It’s a lot. And none of them were bad. They all worked just fine.
But for a business like ours where there are tasks on tasks on tasks, it’s easy for thigns to get lost.
I absolutely love that Sunsama lets you conect your other apps (read: Google e-mail, calendar, Notion tasks, Slack messages) and you can drag and drop tasks from each of those over to your to-do list for the day.
So if you get an email from a client with a task you have to work on, you can drag and drop that over to your to-do list right from inside the Sunsama app. It’s truly a game-changer. The same goes for Slack. If your client is like “hey by the way, can you get me an updated P&L?” But you can’t do it in that moment? No problem. Create a task and do it when you get some time.
You can also group like tasks and assign them a time block on your day to get them done. And if you don’t want to be interrupted during that time, you can have Honeybook block your calendar right from the app.🤯
I use it for: task management, time blocking, workflow organization
So there you have it. The tech stack that I personally use in my bookkeeping business to stay organized, keep my clients happy and stay sane-ish.
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