2024-03-13 1421 - “Ten Year Plan Remix， with Grok and Krok”: LLCs and Bookkeeping Season 1 Episode 11
Main points here: * It is a bookkeeping agency business. * 'Grok's Bookkeeping Business' (we'll call it) has a mission and has a long-term business plan (10 years), details are in the following bullet points. * Business mission is to empower local people by providing bookkeeping services to local family-owned businesses and llcs, etc. * 'Launch Time' will be somewhere between the year 2028 and 2033 planned. Specifically it is targeted to be [Friday, March 31st, 2028]. The break down is because this exact date is 5-10 years out. (Because 2023-Mar-31 is 0 day, and so 2023 contains year 1, and so 2024 contains year 2.) * Before Launch Time, Grok saves 10% of paycheck up for months/years starting in 2024 onwards, to use as so-called "Seed Capital" to start the business during the upcoming 'Launch Time'. * Before Launch Time, Grok's self NOT planning to attend MBA school NOR sit for any mainstream bookkeeping exam. * Before Launch Time, Grok will do self-studies bookkeeping on the side self-paced study e.g. like BUS103: Introduction to Financial Accounting. This is meant to be similar to an accounting/MBA track, though obviously not the same thing. Just a very 'lite' version of schooling on this so that Grok will know the basics of the business and the terminology. * Before Launch Time, Grok will blog updates monthly about the progress of the business plan. * Before Launch Time, Grok will ask for a series of networking meetings with other bookkeeping professionals, accounting professionals, and potential candidates for future 'Main Work Bookkeeper' role (partner or contractor-or-employee-equivalent) and bookkeeping agency owners, and small business owners, and potential clients (local family-owned businesses), and anyone who can help Grok learn what Grok is getting Grok's self into. This way, from hundreds of informational interviews, will be building a network of people and connections and knowledge and resources to be ready for when 'Launch Time' arrives. * Before Launch Time (2028-03-31) Grok also blogs about bookkeeping topics in general, research, interviews, etc. To establish a marketing presence online with a knowledge base in order to be able to start referring potential clients there, and start referring potential contractor-or-employee people to. And for Grok's reference too! * At Launch Time, i.e. 2028-Mar-31, Grok plans to contract-hire part time, or bring on as part-time working partner, one or two part-time bookeepers or accountants. To do the main work of the first few clients; we can call this person the 'Main Work Bookkeeper(s)'. Note: this could anyone who is skilled in bookkeeping, but could also be a recent or soon-to-be graduate from an accounting school or a person looking for their first job after they took a bookkeeping exam. It can also be someone is semi-retired and very experienced bookkeeper person. * At Launch Time, the Seed Capital may pay the equivalent of a paycheck for the Main Work Bookkeeper. But since that's expensive and the 'Seed Money' will only last a few months, the plan is to also use whatever gross revenue/money comes in from the first client, immediately to help pay the the contractor-paycheck-equivalent to the Main Work Bookkeeper person. * Envisioned 'Grok's Bookkeeping Business' will ultimately be some kind of equal-ownership partnership, and/or/like an employee-owned company, and/or/like a publicly traded company. THAT'S IT. THAT IS ALL. Ok but stories are easier to read. so here's a 'story' version of how this entire business, planning stage, and launch stage, envisioned to work out. In other words, pretty much the same plan as in the above bullet points, but this time in a story version. Here: The start of it all. Grok dreams of empowering local people and families. And also of Grok's self becoming a business owner too. Also of understanding Bookkeeping for running a business too. On 2023-May-31 after years of reseach and blogging about life and about financial independence and about business ownership, for example on lemonmama.com, Grok decides a great way to empower Grok's local people, is for Grok to start a bookkeeping agency serving businesses and working with local family-owned businesses. But Grok doesn't know how to do bookkeeping. So grok decides to start the business but get help with the details. First Grok makes a business plan and blogs about it. Then Grok learns about Bookkeeping logistics via books and via resources like saylor.edu classes. Then Grok schedules a series of networking meetings, dozens and eventually hundreds, with people connected to bookkeeping professionals ecosystem. Grok networks at short meetings with students, bookkeepers, friends, accountants, business owners, potential clients, prospective business owners, failed business owners, successful business owners, accounting graduates, MBA holders, professionals, potential customers who are small business owners, people who have used quickbooks to balance their books, tax accountants, Certified bookkeeping professionals, retired certified bookkeeping professionals, semi-retired bookkeepers, retired business owners, etc. the list goes on and on. Grok saves Seed Money that is 10% of Grok's paycheck weekly. Grok looks for an experienced certified bookkeeping professional who has previously or currently worked in, or previously or currently owned, a bookkeeping agency such as this. To act as mostly a mentor/coach. Grok looks for a person who is either a student or a graduate of bookkeeping and/or accounting and/or certified bookkeeping professional, who can eventually be the first so-called 'Main Work Bookkeeper' for the first client on the first project on/after Launch Day (2028-03-21). Grok finds someone Grok thinks will do. Grok has 5 meetings with this first candidate but turns out it won't work, this person wants a more 'stable job' they say. Good for them grok says. Grok finds another person interested, has 10 meetings over 10 weeks, this person is fired up and is a competent recent graduate of a bookkeeping certification program. Grok discerns that this person knows their stuff because grok knows the lingo from having taken some real bookkeeping course online and reading bookkeeping books. This person is so crazy they are willing to work for a minimal amount of contractor-paycheck-equivalent-income as long as they get part ownership of 'Grok's Bookkeeping Business' too. This person, we'll call them 'Krok, the Main Work Bookkeeper', is also working a part time work-for-money employee job on the side too at the same time (that is how Krok can afford to join this crazy airline and pay their rent and food at the same time, similar to Grok actually) The story continues. Oh! It's almost Friday, March 31, 2028. Almost Launch day! Grok has met with two dozen possible clients over the past 12 months, about two per month. Some of them weren't interested in working with Grok & Krok because Grok & Krok are a new agency with no track record of success. Good for them Grok says. Some clients were interested but they themselves couldn't pay and sadly their business was failing. So sad. Finally Grok & Krok meet a business owner who they discern is a win-win prospective client. This person has a quick-growing local family business, it might be an auto shop or a cafe or a salon or a clothing store or a book store or a grocery or a liquor store or a hardware store. Let's say it's a grocery. And the Grocery owner has been keeping receipts in Excel and has been paying taxes for 3 years as a 'sole proprietorship' and but now is starting to worry more and more they haven't been keeping their books as well as they should, for purposes including tax, payroll, insurance, expense reporting, income reporting, llc, corporation, and more. And the Grocery Owner, let's call them Rok, knows Grok through a friend from networking, and meets with Grok 4 times over 4 weeks, and meets Krok, and Rok discerns that Grok & Krok can bring Rok's business to the next level, if Rok works with them for even just 1 year or so on and off. And so Grok & Krok get their first client. Krok meets with Rok about 15 hours per week (3 hours per day) for about 6 weeks or so. Grok does the following: Grok sets the meetings, and joins most of the meetings too, and does scheduling for the meetings. And Grok also makes sure Rok pays 'Grok's Bookkeeping Business' for the meetings/consulting/time as well. And Grok makes sure that Krok gets paid contractor-paycheck-equivalent in Krok's role as Main Work Bookkeeper. Rok learns a lot and gets a lot of techniques from Krok and is elated. Much more confident that this year Rok's Grocery will be much more solid in terms of tax, and income reporting, and expense reporting, and payroll, and process, and LLC, and more. At the same time, a semi-retired bookkeeper Grok met 3 years ago networking, and is friend, agrees to do some advising on this same project too for a reasonable one-time consultant fee too. So this way Rok is even more confident that it was looked over via a more experiened bookkeeper too. And so after the couple of months, this gig is over. Grok and Krok get paid. Rok gets Rok's business bookkeeping shaped up pretty nice. Later on next year Rok might hire an even more experienced bookkeeper to bring it to the next level. (Who knows, by that time, maybe Grok's Bookkeeping Business may have an expert bookkeeper on on contract/staff and can do that too, the sky is the limit.) At the end of the sixth year, Grok's Bookkeeping service brings in a second client too. And by the end of the year later, the overall sixth year, so 2029-03-31, Grok's Bookkeeping service brings in ₷21 shells* in gross sales. And that entire amount is used to pay Grok's Bookkeeping service. But now in its seventh year, there are two new clients lined up. Grok is networking still and blogging still and setting up new client meetings. It looks like by the seven year mark (so by 2030-03-31), Grok's Bookkeeping service may be able to do twice that much. (so may be able to do ₷42 shells in sales). Over this time, the kids of Grok and Krok, and coincidenially Rok too, are all going to school, and one of each of their kids is interested in studying bookkeeping and accounting. So some of their kids also start helping out in the business too, as contractors/partners. Over the first five years, that's overall years 5-10, the business grows, they get more clients. Krok quits on good terms. Krok gets a corporate job after 1 year actually, that pays much more, and so needs to devote 55 hours a week to that, so Krok decides to break amicably from Grok's Bookkeeping Business. Grok has still been networking with other candidates throughout. For overall year 7, via multiple meetings, Grok finds another bookkeeper looking for part time contract bookkeeping gig, we'll call them Lock, who is a bit crazy and ambitious. Crazy like a fox that is, and clever as one too. And Lock does take on a part time Main Work Bookkeeper role with 'Grok's Bookkeeping Business' in overall year 7 of the businss. finally in overall year 10 'Grok's Bookkeeping Business' becomes profitable. besides paying paycheck-equivalent and covering expenses, the business returns a profit. it is now 2033-Mar-31, the end of overall year 10 and there is a still long way to go. But now at the 10 year mark, 'Grok's Bookkeeping Business' is steadily growing, and is empowering the community more and more, just like Grok Envisioned. In conclusion, this has been a story about Grok and Krok, a “Ten Year Plan Remix” for LLCs and Bookkeeping business idea. Related: “Pilot Raspberry” Remix: Niche And Career is LLCs and Bookkeeping: Inaugural Post - Season 1 Episode 1 “Within Driving Distance”: LLCs and Bookkeeping Season 1 Episode 10 By author lemonmama on lemonmama.com/lemonmama ~~~ Copyright © individual authors. Also Open Source Copyright per https://github.com/mjassen/lemonmama.com/ [...] blob/main/LICENSE Affilate statement: The authors may have interest, and or may be earning commissions, with companies or products mentioned on this blog. Independent non-affiliate statement: Products or companies mentioned on this blog may be unaffiliated with this blog; without any sponsor relationship.