Rainforest Bookkeeping
Rainforest Bookkeeping was born 01 September 2009. Why the name? When I think of a Rainforest, I think of sustainability, new growth and the possibility of something new. I also think of all the trees we can save by moving to the cloud and going as paperless as possible.
Our mission is to help our small business partners get out of parts of their business they dislike and back into their lives.
Our experience in small businesses, trades and apprenticeship, marketing, manufacturing, logistics, import/export and e-commerce this has been invaluable to small businesses and sole traders. We know how valuable time is when it's only you and your partner. We wanted to find ways to give my clients their personal time back. Our original clients were all husband and wife teams that were both involved in the business, constantly working in the business and often, one or both were not happy about it and neither was trained in the complexities of running a business.
Initially, using desktop software, it was all about data entry, paperwork and filing. Each client required 4-8 hours per week in the client's office. Playing catch up was the norm instead of the exception. There was no time for value-adding services and advisory.
As a Bookkeeping practice, we now have complete transparency throughout the accounting process, one point of truth and we have everything at hand for year-end. The Bookkeeper – Accountant relationships have never been stronger. Rainforest Bookkeeping is 100% cloud-based with Xero. Having experience with many desktop software platforms has made the migration from desktop to the cloud has become a speciality.
The best part is our clients now know what’s happening in their businesses in real-time.
And we love what we do!
Michele Grisdale
About Us
Starting with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Marketing, I worked many years with international television broadcast equipment manufacturer, Leitch Technology, designing brochures, logos and trade show exhibitions. in 1995, my family and I transferred to Sydney to set up for the 2000 Olympics as the company had a large contract with NBC TV USA. No small task for a young woman with an Australian husband and a three-year-old and a three-month-old, but opportunity knocked.
Once in Australia, I fell in love with the country, the people and the attitude. After fulfilling my five-year contract, I fell into corporate bookkeeping and payroll services and the mountain of paper that came with it. I worked in with manufacturing, import/export, logistics, food safety, e-commerce and the building industry.
After surviving divorce, a soccer-related back-injury and two surgeries in 2002, it was time to re-evaluate. I started working for five clients as an employee bookkeeper as that was all I could handle with all of the data-entry and paper chasing involved.
With partner (now husband) Clayton, and two more kids, they owned a fully-sustainable hair salon on Sydney's Northern Beaches for many years. Working in a service business and with apprentices brought new knowledge and experience. Luckily Xero launched and it all got so much easier. It was exciting and I decided to get my BAS Agent certification and tackle more.
With eight clients on different accounting platforms, I never thought I would be able to handle more. I started working for an administration company who specialised in Trades. This is where I was introduced to Receipt Bank. The immediate difference this made in working with trades and micro-businesses was exciting. I started learning, training, migrating desktop systems to Xero and have never looked back.
Recently I sharing this knowledge with other Bookkeepers and organisations to assist them with their futures. Had I meant someone like myself in the early days the process could have moved so much more smoothly. Today I work with many others and have coffee chats as well as structured mentoring. Having lived through it I know the brick walls well. The biggest challenge is getting bookkeepers to back themselves and move in the direction they desire.
I can proudly say that today I have achieved my 3-year plan goals and could not be happier. Still working 4-5 days per week and still loving what I do!
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