for bookkeeping + accounting firm owners
Curious what a successful accounting firm’s Slack setup looks like? I’ll show you mine. See where we talk about client work, how we share updates, and how I can tell at a glance who's seen each update, without asking anyone. Then give your team a clear way to keep you in the loop, without answering the same question in three different places.
No paid Slack plan needed. I built and filmed this whole course on the free version.
You hire someone who knows bookkeeping, ready to hand over some client work. Then comes the text while you’re on a call, the email, the question buried in a task. Keeping them up to speed becomes another job.
You’ve already answered that. They can’t find it. Neither can you. And now you’re wondering, “Why does having help still feel like so much work?”
It’s hard to feel like a good manager when neither of you knows where the conversation belongs.
“Wait. Where did we talk about this?”
Better leadership starts with a better
communication system. 💡
If you’re nosy like me, you want to see how someone else keeps up with the client work and the people doing it. I’m letting you into my Slack to see how we do it. 👀
I teach this setup inside Breakthrough. Firm owners kept asking for the Slack piece on its own, so here it is. You’ll see which conversations go where and why, then follow my setup in your own firm instead of figuring it out from an empty sidebar.
Every client gets their own channel, so you can find the conversations about their work without checking three different places. But I don’t bring clients into Slack. When clients can message you instantly, you train them to expect instant answers. Clients stay on email, and Slack stays your team’s space.
It sounds backwards, but it works. Each bookkeeper posts their progress through close in our month-end channel. You can see where the client work stands at a glance, without digging through conversations to piece it together.
You’ve shared an update. Now, did anyone read it? My team uses red, yellow, and green emojis so I can see who’s seen it, who’s working on it, and what’s done without asking everyone separately. If you’ve been in my world, you know I use a stoplight for everything. Slack included. 🚦
Slack can get loud fast. I’ll show you how to keep replies with the conversation they belong to, and use @mentions to get the right person’s attention without sending everyone another notification.
“Slack can become messy really quickly and because of the framework that you set up in your course, we've been able to keep it really clean and organized and all of our team knows how to use Slack correctly so that it stays that way.”
I hear this all the time. You can use more than one tool to communicate. Your team just needs to know exactly what each one is for. Here’s how I think about it.
“But the free version only keeps 90 days of messages.” Good. You shouldn’t have to scroll through old messages to find the process your team needs to follow. Talk it through in Slack, then save what you’ll need later in its proper home. For us, that’s Notion. I’ll show you how we decide what stays in Slack and what goes elsewhere.
You shouldn’t have to ask “Did you see my message?” every time you share an update. Give the people you hire a clear way to respond, ask questions, and keep you in the loop.
With Slack Smarter, Not Harder, keep your workspace open beside the videos and build your setup as I walk you through mine. You’ll know what each channel is for and how to use it with your team before you bring everyone in. 🙌🏼
Open Slack beside the video and follow me through signup. I’ll show you what to choose so you’re not second-guessing every setup screen.
Let’s turn off those extra email notifications before Slack becomes one more thing filling your inbox. Then add your logo, customize the look, and set up your profile with my recommended settings.
Start with my recommended channels for client work and team updates. I’ll show you how to create them, which ones to keep private, and how to remove the ones your firm doesn’t need.
Bring in your bookkeeper or contractor and add them to the channels they need. I’ll walk you through the invitations and access settings so you know who can see what.
Get a question to the right person, keep the replies together, and find the answer again later. I’ll show you messages, @mentions, search, and the reactions we use so an update doesn’t leave you wondering who read it.
You changed a step in an SOP. How does your team know? See how we share the update in Slack and pin the links, so they can find the process when it’s time to use it.
Put the Zoom link, Asana project, and Notion page where your team is already talking about the work. I’ll show you channel bookmarks and integrations, including how to turn a Slack message into an Asana task.
No more staring at an empty sidebar wondering what channels to make. Keep the spreadsheet open while you build, start with the exact channels I recommend, and adapt them to your firm as you go.
“Configuring and implementing Slack! I even set up a Zap to drop new leads in the Sales channel! I couldn’t have done it without your Slack Bonus...well maybe I could have but I would have done it poorly and taken 100x as long. Thank you!!!”
Only hire help during busy season? That still counts. Even one contractor needs to know where to ask about a client, find an update, and tell you where the work stands. You don’t need a full staff to want that to feel easier.
Start them off knowing exactly where to ask questions and where to look for updates, from day one.
One person texts, another emails, and you’re keeping up with both. Bring the work questions and updates into the same place.
Already have channels nobody knows what to do with? Use mine to rethink where conversations belong and how people respond to updates.
“Onboarding my first employee was so intimidating but one of the things I implemented quickly and had such a big impact was Alyssa’s slack set up. It gave me the perfect place to check in with my employee daily and keep our conversations organized on clients.”
If your team is in Slack but you’re still chasing answers, adding another channel probably isn’t the fix. Come see what we put in each channel, why it belongs there, and how we respond to each other. You can compare my setup with yours as you watch.
You’ll see why our month-end channel stays free of chat, where SOP updates go, and how the stoplight reactions tell me who’s seen a message. It’s the way we use the channels that makes the difference.
Keep what’s working in your firm and borrow the parts of my setup you need. The goal is to know where the conversation is and who’s caught up, without making Slack more complicated for everyone.
Give each kind of conversation a clear home.
Use a checkmark reaction to show you understand an update.
Keep replies together so you can find the conversation.
I’m the founder of Workflow Queen, and I help bookkeeping and accounting firm owners get out of the middle of everything, so they can lead a team they trust and have a life outside their firm. I’ve also owned bookkeeping and advisory firms, so I know the conversations happening behind the client work.
Slack Smarter, Not Harder is built around the conversations your firm is having. A question about a client. A month-end update. A change to the bank rec SOP. I’ll show you how I organize those conversations with my team so you can follow the same approach.
See exactly how we’re using Slack, then use my channels and settings for your own firm.
This training is also inside Breakthrough. Here, you can get the Slack lessons and my recommended channel spreadsheet on their own.
Come see how we use Slack, then follow along to give your own team a setup they know how to use.
This Slack training is already included in your program. Check your bonus section before buying it here.
Nope! I filmed this entire course on the free version of Slack, and that’s what I recommend you start with. If you ever want to upgrade, you can, but you don’t need to.
The free plan gives you access to the most recent 90 days of messages and files. Your settings for keeping old messages and files determine whether they’re deleted after 90 days or one year. Save decisions, written procedures, and client notes with your team’s reference documents. We use Notion for that. I recommend that habit even on a paid plan.
Yes! If you’ve never opened Slack before, you’re exactly who I had in mind. I’ll walk you through signing up and creating your workspace, then we’ll get into settings, channels, and bringing your team in.
And if you’re thinking, “Please don’t give me another complicated piece of software,” I get it. Slack is easy to use, which is a big reason I chose it for my team.
The videos total under an hour, broken into short lessons. Keep Slack open beside them and set up as you watch. Give yourself time to choose the channels your firm needs, adjust the settings, and invite your team.
I don’t recommend it, and I explain why inside the course. When clients can reach you instantly, you train them to expect instant answers. We keep client communication on email (or a business text line when needed). Slack is for your team. Each client gets a channel so your team’s conversations about them stay organized, but the client is never in it.
Keep using them for questions about a transaction. But where does your bookkeeper ask about month-end as a whole, or an SOP that changed? Give those conversations a place in Slack and make sure your team knows which tool to use. When a Slack conversation involves a specific transaction, link it in the thread so nobody has to hunt for it.
We’ll cover how to communicate about that work in Slack, including sharing new or updated SOPs and keeping your team in the loop. If you need help building the processes themselves, here’s where I’d point you:
The SOP Method takes you through my system for writing your SOPs, organizing them in a database, keeping them updated, and communicating changes to your team. You’ll have the templates and system to help your team find and follow the process.
Breakthrough is where we work on the bigger picture of your firm’s systems, workflows, and team, including how you handle work like month-end and get more of it off your plate.
If month-end keeps stalling because you’re waiting on clients to send information, take a look at Effortless Client Requests. It gives you request templates, email copy, and training for using Content Snare to collect what you need without manually chasing every document.
Yes! Whether you have one contractor during busy season or W-2 employees year-round, you still need a way to ask questions, share links, and let people know when something changes. Setting it up now means everyone you bring on learns how your firm communicates from the start.
Still wondering if this is the right fit? Email us at support@workflowqueen.com and tell us a little about your team. We’re happy to help you figure out whether this is the right place to start.
You hired help because you wanted help. Give the people you hire a clear place to ask questions, share progress, and respond to updates, so keeping everyone in the loop feels manageable. I’ll show you my Slack setup and give you the channel spreadsheet to build your own.
Okay, I’m in! Let’s do thisPresale ends October 26 at midnight Eastern. Then it goes up to $57.
Being a better manager and leader starts with a better communication system. With Slack Smarter, Not Harder, streamline the way you communicate with your team.
In under an hour of bite-sized videos, I’ll walk you through:
Setting up Slack without overwhelming your team or yourself
Organizing conversations by client or topic with the channels I recommend
Knowing who’s seen what messages with my stoplight system
Sharing SOP updates and finding conversations again, so you’re not repeating yourself
You’ll also get my recommended Slack channel spreadsheet. Use it to set up your firm’s channels, so everyone knows where each conversation belongs.
Whether it’s you and one other person or multiple employees, you can have an organized way to talk through the client work.
Get the video course + Slack channel spreadsheet for $37 (normally $57) during the presale.
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