Do You Need SOPs Before You Hire?

Bookkeepers Are Natural Helpers

There are a few things that I usually start with when a bookkeeper comes to me stretched thin because the business has grown faster than they can keep up with: how they're pricing, how they're spending their time, and how they're delegating.

I've been talking a lot lately about pricing but today I want to talk about delegation.

One of the things that stops bookkeepers from bringing on a team sooner rather than later is the "it's quicker if I just do it" thing.

And there's no denying that that's probably true.

After all, you're the one who's been doing the work for so long. You know it well; you have your process down pat, and all the info needed to do the work is in your head.

The trap is thinking that fixing that is all just in the too-hard basket.

So you wait. You tell yourself you'll hire once you've got your processes written down. But that usually means you never hire, because there's never time to sit down and document a process while you're also doing all the work yourself.

Here's what I suggest instead.

You don't need the SOPs before you hire. You need a plan for how the SOPs get written, and it doesn't have to be you writing them.

Next time you're doing one of those tasks that only lives in your head, record yourself doing it. You can use a tool like Scribe or Loom with AI, which has an SOP feature, but you can also just share your screen via your video app and hit record. Talk to yourself as you're doing it, explaining what you're doing and why.

Then when you bring someone on, one of their first jobs is to watch that recording and write up the process themselves. They learn the task, and you get a documented SOP, without you having to find the hours to write it.

And you don't need to start with detailed step-by-steps either. A simple checklist will do. I call these the "don't forget to dos," just a checklist of what needs to happen, in order. That's enough to start handing something off safely. The more detailed process can come later, once you've actually got some help and a bit of headspace back.

Hiring well still absolutely matters. Finding the right person, not just a warm body in a seat, is still important. But don't let the absence of perfect documentation be the reason you keep doing everything yourself.

If you want to go deeper on this, I wrote a longer piece on delegation that covers hiring, onboarding, and the tech that makes it easier. Read it here

And if you'd rather talk through where your business is at right now, that's exactly what a Bookkeeper Breakthrough Session is for. No cost, just a real conversation.

 👉Book your free Bookkeeper Breakthrough Session here.

Stephanie Crawford

Award Winning Bookkeeping Business Coach