DOMREMY, Sask. — Crystal LeBlanc has the best of both worlds: generating off-farm in-come without leaving the farm.
Business is good for the accounts bookkeeper, who handles data entry for businesses as varied as farms, chiropractors and trucking companies as far flung as Big River, Sask., and Shellbrook, Sask.
“I like numbers so I don’t mind data entry,” said the entrepreneur, who attended business school before working at businesses as a bookkeeper.
“If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t be doing it.”
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LeBlanc lives on the family farm near Domremy with her husband, Gilles, and four sons.
Each month, she fits up to 40 hours of work around her farm and family, using programs such as QuickBooks and AgExpert.
She has 20 clients who pay her $45 per hour, but she does her own farm’s books for free.
She said the advantage of hiring a professional bookkeeper comes from keeping accounts in order.
“In the long run, it may end up costing them a lot more money,” she said. “If not me, they’d have to pay an accountant to do it, and that’s very expensive.”
The hardest part is ensuring clients have their records in order and can provide receipts for what they’ve bought. It’s better not to enter them or there could be issues if a business is audited later on, said LeBlanc.
She has had to turn away potential clients, something that’s not likely to change until her youngest is in school full time.
When she must leave the farm to work with a client, she relies on Gilles, his mother and her teenaged son.
Her earnings go toward household expenses or a weekend away, but not the farm, she said.
“I want the farm to support itself,” she said. “My income is an extra.”
She conceded she never saw herself going to university after high school.
“My main goal in life was to be a mom, so this was an added bonus.”
She gets occasional help from Stuart Person at MNP in Prince Albert, Sask., who initially proposed the idea of the job to her and sends clients her way.
The certified accountant and business adviser said it means less work for him when accounts come into his office well organized. The service is also less expensive than MNP would be, and it provides a source of income for LeBlanc.
“Having her run that business and the extra income is a big deal for their family,” he said.
“Clients are happy because it’s cheaper and we still get high quality information.”
Person said that frees up time for farm and business operators to work on other matters and spend more time with their families.
He said demand outstrips supply in bookkeeping services, but added that modern technology makes home-based business possible.
Person said people contemplating such a venture should seek professional advice to explore legal issues and ensure they have everything in place before they launch.
