Bryan Weatherford (00:10):
Hey folks, let’s be honest here for just a second. If you own your own business, and it doesn’t matter what the business is, frankly, it doesn’t matter how big or how small the business is. If you have employees, you’re going to have payroll. And if you have payroll, you’re going to have all sorts of bookkeeping needs that you may not be able to do on your own. But don’t fret. There’s professionals out there exactly like the one we have on the show who are there to help your business run as efficiently as possible. They’ll take care of these things so you can take care of what you know about. The name of our guest today, her company is Affordable Bookkeeping and Payroll Services. My guest, Candy Messer, right here on the show. Candy, how are you?
Candy Messer (00:48):
I’m doing well. Thank you.
BW (00:49):
Thank you so much for being here today. And, and I know I’m right on this when I’m not right all the time, but anybody that has a business is going to have payroll. And I’m just curious, give us a little bit about your experience even before you got to where you are today. Because I guess you’ve been doing this for a little while.
CM (01:06):
I have been doing this for quite a long time. I started helping business owners because they’re overwhelmed and they didn’t want to have to do these things, but to be in compliance, they have to. So we’ve been serving clients with their bookkeeping and payroll for many years. I actually started back in 2002 and I now have a full staff is assisting me as well.
BW (01:27):
And is it true that you work with businesses and pretty much, you’re not just stuck in one particular industry. Are you all over the place helping people out?
CM (01:36):
We can help people in various states. I do have some that have employees in many states, especially now with COVID having allowed people to move out of their regular work areas into other states. So we can help people in many states.
BW (01:50):
You know, so many people out there (my background is marketing and sales) and people that aren’t into marketing and sales often transpose the two and they think marketing is sales and sales is marketing. Nothing can be further from the truth, but in your profession, do you get the same thing with bookkeeping and accounting?
CM (02:07):
Oh yes. I’m not a CPA. I don’t do income tax returns. We do everything up to that, but you have to have the bookkeeping done for the CPAs to be able to do those tax returns. So I’m not an accountant, but we do serve those people with their bookkeeping and the payroll needs.
BW (02:23):
You know, you mentioned the big word there a while ago, compliance. That’s something everybody has to be careful because there’s so many rules and regulations out there. That’s one side of it. That is something you keep up with, but there’s also programs in place that frankly employers may not ever know about because they’re busy running a business. They don’t have time to look for programs that might be able to help them out. One such program you’re very familiar with as this CalSavers program. Go into that a little bit. Tell us about it.
CM (02:50):
Sure. Well, the CalSavers program was designed to help employers allow their employees to save for retirement. It was actually legislation passed by California stating they wanted to help employees be able to save for their future. About 35% of employees didn’t even have access to a retirement plan because many of them are working for small businesses that just didn’t see the need or have the ability necessarily to put that into place. And so this is a method that employers will be able to sign up with the state of California, allow their employees to be able to have those payroll deductions and put that money into an account for their future. And it’s going to be theirs if they have a plan in place already. So 401k or SIMPLE, there’s quite a few different retirement plans they can have in place. They don’t have to opt into this program, but it’s for those that didn’t already have something in place.
BW (03:46):
So this is a new program? I mean, is it open now that people can register? And if so, which employees are eligible?
CM (03:53):
Sure. It’s actually been going on for a few years now. Those who had 100 or more employees had to register back in 2020, those with 50 or more had to register by June of 2021. And those that have five or more employees have to register by June 30th, 2022. However they can register early. So if anyone is interested in this program and doesn’t have to have already been enrolled, they can enroll at any time between now and June 30th of next year.
BW (04:24):
Okay. So make sure I’m clear. Is this something where the employee themselves go online and have to set up an account or do the employers do that for them? Or how does the whole process work?
CM (04:34):
So the employer will first enroll and then they would submit all of the employee information for those that are eligible employees to this portal, this CalSavers portal. And then the employee will be invited by either email or mail, depending on what they’ve provided to their employer. And then they would go in and opt out if they don’t want to participate, because the employer has to basically give every employee that qualifies, or they can make changes because there are defaults that are set. It’s going to be at 5%. And if they don’t want to have that much withheld, or maybe they want to even have more up to 8%, they can go in and modify what their account is. But it first starts with the employer registering with the CalSavers program.
BW (05:20):
Okay. So it starts there then, okay, I understand that. All right. So let me ask you this. I touched on it at the top of the show. So many times when people get into business and they’re ready to roll, and then these things start coming that they don’t know anything about; payroll being a big part of that bookkeeping being a bigger part of that. They go off trying to figure out how to do this. They don’t pay attention to the reason they got in the business in the first place and the business goes away. So you’re there you and your staff to help these smaller companies be like big companies. The big companies have staffs of bookkeepers and stuff. You’re able to help the little ones play like the big ones, is that fair?
CM (05:55):
Exactly. We’re here to help them be compliant because if they don’t actually register on time, there are penalties associated with this as well. So again, you either have to have a plan already in place, and then let California know that you have one in place by going to the portal and submitting that information, or you have to register. So if you don’t register on time, it’s a $250 penalty per eligible employee in the first 90 days after that deadline. If you don’t do it within that first 90 days, it’s an additional $500 per eligible employee. So it can become very costly for not being in compliance.
BW (06:34):
Well, I work with words for living, not numbers, but I can do those numbers pretty quickly and realize, yes, you need to pay attention to this. And if they can’t pay attention, bringing a pro who can. You know, we were chatting off the air, I’m intrigued by this webinar you have coming out. Can you give us a little information on that?
CM (06:49):
Sure. What I want to do is educate those employers that may not even be aware of this program, let them know what are the plans that are eligible outside of CalSavers or what they need to do to register to become a CalSavers business that their employees can then participate through this program. So I’m going to have a three-part webinar that will go over all of the program details. We’re going to have a deep dive into all of the pros and cons of every plan that is available to help them know what’s the right choice for their business. And then if they do go into the CalSavers program, I’m going to have a guide that is step-by-step with screenshots. And then the third part, we’re going to actually go through some of that so that they are not totally confused about the website and what they need to do.
BW (07:36):
Again, I’ve said it numerous times. I’ll say it again before we’re done Candy. You’re out there to help these guys feel like these guys, because let’s be honest. A lot of the smaller businesses would never even know where to begin to look for this. Thank you for that. I appreciate that webinar info. And I know everybody out there is going to look forward to jumping on board with you. So if there’s somebody out there, and let’s say they’re in college, and they’re trying to figure out where to embark on their career, if what you do intrigues them, where do you think they should start? What should they study to get into the payroll field?
CM (08:07):
Well, of course, I took accounting classes in college to get the background for that. There are most of the business classes you have to take in the accounting field anyway. Payroll is a little bit different. It’s usually not covered. So if they wanted to reach out to their local college, just to see if they even have a class, maybe they know somebody similar to me that does it, and they can reach out and say, “I’m interested in more information. You know, what do I have to do to learn it?” Or even work for a company like myself and they get the on the job training.
BW (08:37):
All right, that’s good enough. I’ve got about 30 seconds left. But as I told you, I’m a lifelong marketing guy from a marketing standpoint. What’s the best way you found to go out there and bring in new customers for your company?
CM (08:49):
Honestly, word of mouth is great for us because those who have worked with people who know they have a need and know that we can help them. We love to have referrals from professionals. But a lot of people actually search Google as well, and we come up and they call and they reach us too. So any way that you want to find out what works for us.
BW (09:09):
Well, let’s be honest. We don’t care how you find out about you, just find out because it’s going to be for their own good, whoever does find out about you. And you’re exactly right on word of mouth. Word of mouth works two ways, but if it’s working for you is simply for the fact you know what you’re doing and you take care of people and you’re looking for more to take care of as well. Well, thanks for all the information today, especially that webinar. That sounds really exciting. And I know that people would get some information again that they’d never be able to find on their own. We appreciate that. We really appreciate you taking care of all the other small businesses out there. Keep being you. Thanks for popping on the show today. We wish you all the best.
CM (09:45):
Thank you so much. I wanted to say too, I will put the link in the description of the recording.
BW (09:52):
Super that’s the best place to find it. Thanks, Candy.
CM (09:55):
Thanks. Bye.
Link for webinar: Find out more at https://affordablebookkeepingandpayroll.com/ca-401k-webinars.
