Professional services
Bookkeeping for consultants and coaches
You sell your time and your thinking. The books behind it should take you ten minutes a month, not a weekend in April.
Updated October 4, 2026
In short
Most consultants and coaches have simple businesses with messy books: income through Stripe, PayPal or invoices, one card used for everything, and months that swing from great to quiet. We separate fees from income, move personal charges out, and give you a monthly profit number to plan taxes from. Most sit in our Simple tier.
How the money moves
How money comes in and goes out
Money usually arrives three ways. Corporate clients pay invoices by ACH or check. Individual clients pay by card through Stripe, PayPal or your booking tool. Group programs and retainers often run as subscriptions.
The catch is that card payments land in your bank as payouts, not as individual sales. A Tuesday deposit of $2,814 might be four client payments minus Stripe's fees and one refund. If that deposit goes into the books as "income, $2,814," you've understated revenue and lost a deductible expense in one entry.
Common problems
Where the books usually go wrong
The everything card
Software, flights, a client lunch, groceries, a gym membership. When one card does it all, every charge needs a call, and guesses pile up by year end.
Fees hiding inside payouts
Processor fees run around 3% of card sales. Over a year that's often a four-figure expense that never makes it onto the profit and loss.
Quarterly tax guesswork
A $30,000 month followed by a $6,000 month makes estimated payments hard to size without current numbers.
Unpaid invoices nobody's tracking
A corporate client 60 days late is easy to miss when you're busy delivering for the next one.
Every month
What we do every month
- Split every Stripe and PayPal payout into gross sales, fees and refunds
- Sort the shared card: business charges categorized, personal ones moved to owner draws
- Reconcile your bank, card and processor balances to their statements
- Keep a short list of who owes you and how long it's been
- Send a profit and loss you can size quarterly tax payments from
A month of books, for example
Say a leadership coach runs one-to-one sessions through Stripe and two corporate workshops a quarter by invoice. Each month we'd turn eight or so Stripe payouts back into individual sales and fees, match the workshop payments to their invoices, and flag the three card charges we can't place. She answers those in a couple of lines, and her profit number for the month is ready.
Illustrative example, not a client story.
Getting started
What we need from you
- Accountant access to your bookkeeping software
- Read-only access to Stripe or PayPal reports, or a monthly export
- A quick answer on charges we can't identify
Software and statements we work from
- Stripe
- PayPal
- QuickBooks Payments
- Square
- Calendly payments
- ACH invoices
Price
What it costs
Most solo consultants and coaches fit the Simple tier, $200 to $400 a month. Firms with staff, several entities or heavy contractor use usually land in Moderate.
One flat monthly price, set after the free review. See the pricing guide or estimate your tier.
Questions
Common questions
I use one card for business and personal. Do I need to stop?
Not before you start with us. We sort it every month. A separate business card does make the books cheaper and cleaner over time, and we'll suggest it when you're ready.
Can you handle a group program sold as a subscription?
Yes. Subscription payments come through the same processor reports, so we record each charge, fee and refund separately.
Do you work with coaches who also sell a course?
Yes. Course platforms pay out a little differently; our course creator page explains how we handle them.
Will you tell me how much to set aside for taxes?
We give you an accurate monthly profit figure. Your accountant turns that into an estimated payment, and it's a much easier conversation with real numbers.
Similar businesses
Industries like yours
Agencies
Retainers, contractors, client ad spend and a pile of subscriptions.
Read more →Course creators and memberships
Kajabi, Teachable and Stripe payouts, launches, affiliates, refunds.
Read more →Therapists and counselors
SimplePractice or Jane payouts, private pay, a few insurance panels.
Read more →Book your free review
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