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Hello all. I’m Daphne and I’m a new member here from Dallas. I’ve read the manual but I am still confused with how you handle bill payment, mail, etc. for clients that you don’t meet with in person. Can you explain to me what programs you use or if you have logins to all of your clients’ accounts? If you are accepting mail for clients, how do you handle receiving mail that is non-related to your tasks for that client. I need some clarity. Thanks in advance!
Dear Daphne:
These are all verty interesting questions. There is no one size fits all answer to them. Every client will be different, depending on their needs and wishes, and their willingness tio provide you with access to their information. Since it seems like you are talking about “virtual work,” I would set up the follwing:
1. If you are to receivwe the clients mail, you can either open up a P.O Box for your client, or have the bills sent directly to yor office, whichever you both feel comfortable with. If you never see your client, you might want to change all vendor and account addresses to come to you, leaving the personal mail to go to the client. If you do see the client, you can go once every two weeks (depending on the billing cycles) to pick up the relevant mail.
2. In your letter of agreement I would include a separate signed agreement to give you on-line access to all their accounts, bank and credit cards. You must have as sophisticated an enctryption system for storing and backing up this information. And, good insurance!
3. Record keeping/Bookkeeping. I would have to write an essay on what you can do there. However, if your client keeps tbeir information in Excel or Quicken, you can copy the file to make entries. If your client does not computerize their information I would suggest that you create a Quicken account for your client, where you will store all her accounts, download and reconcile all the activity, sending them a report weekly, monthly or quarterly, as the client requests.
That is it for now, if you have any questions contact me at Gideon@eddyandschein.com
All the best,
Gideon
Gideon is right. It’s not one size fits all. I work virtually with all my clients. I try whenever possible to set up recurring payments to be automatic (mortgage, utilities to name a few). I prefer to get the bills electronically. If a bill comes to the client, then it is forwarded to me via scan or mail by the client. Your client can ask the biller to change the mailing address to you via a post office box or your office address (yard service, therapist, pest control, etc.). The best solution is to be as paperless as possible. I have dropbox files for all my clients and never keep paper. Don’t forget to create a good tickler system so you know when a bill gets lost.
Ditto on # 2 and # 3.
Thank you Gideon! This was extremely helpful! I was thinking a PO Box woiuld work well for me for the clients I don’t see on a regular basis. I was also thinking about using Quicken. If the client doesn’t have a Quicken account, do you start and login for them? Or is this done within your own system as a client? Thanks a bunch for the great insight.
Thank you Lynn! I appreciate your response. I do like the aspect of working virtually for clients, that way I’m not limited to my geographical area. However I would like some hands on clients, to get the feel of it. I agree about being as paperless as possible and will strive to make that happen. Good idea re tickler system. Let me think about that…
Looks like you got great information here. I do what Gideon and Lynn stated. I get all bills either electronically by email or to my box. If a client gets a one off bill, like a medical bill, they scan and email it to me. I tend to try and have as little as possible go through the client as it tends not to make it to me or it makes it to me late. I also use Quicken and manage it all on my computer, sending reports to the clients monthly.
Thank you for your response Caitlin. Using Quicken, do you have separate subscriptions for each client, each with unique ID and password, requiring a new subscription? Or is there a way in Quicken to have multiple accounts you can switch from. If that is the case, is it the cloud-based version or desktop version?
Great topic! I am also new and am hoping to work virtually. How do you electronically pay bills for clients using Quicken given Quicken’s limitations on bill pay profiles? Do you instead print paper checks for the client from their Quicken profile? If so, do you order blank checks for the client and store them at your offices? I was also thinking that one could instead use *Quickbooks* to do this via their more robust ACH tools. I would love some responses from folks who may have gone down that path. Thanks all! I hope you are staying warm wherever you are.
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