Have You Faced Your YEWU?

In 2015, as I was heading home from the old Polymath office on New Year’s Eve, a beautiful (and hilarious) scene dropped into my mind.  We had been busy facilitating Year-End Wrap-Up appointments for all of our wonderful clients.  At Polymath, we lovingly referred to this process as the YEWU™.  That fateful evening, I realized that the YEWU was also so much more.

As many of you know, over the years the Ask A Bookkeeper show on YouTube had many more characters in the works that have not made it to your computer screen.  Penny the Practical Professional was never intended to be the sole starlet of my little show.  These characters were pretty well formed in my mind, and I just needed to find more time to create and frolic with puppets in between playing with QuickBooks and meeting with my awesome clients.  One character that had taken a leading role in my mind was Procrastinator Gator.  Without revealing too much about Gator’s story, let me just say that over the course of our tale he becomes The DeleGator. (Pretty neat, huh!)

That New Year’s evening, as I drove home singing SJ Tucker’s “Ask Me Anything” loudly to myself, I was suddenly struck by a vision.

Procrastinator Gator was asking, “Hey, Penny? What’s a YEWU?”

To which Penny replied, “Oooh! A YEWU is a rare and magical creature that only comes around once a year. It is half yeti and half emu! And brings gifts to all of the good business owners who get their books done on time for taxes!”

At which point I come on screen and say, “Penny, what are you talking about? YEWU stands for Year-End Wrap-Up. It’s the process I go through at the end of each year with all of my clients to make sure that their 1099’s and W2’s get done on time and that their books are all clean and ready for their tax accountant.”

We then go on to talk about some of the important details of the YEWU™ process.

The damage had been done.  The half-yeti half-emu monster at the end of your QuickBooks was born!  Even if he does not yet exist “in the fuzz” as a real puppet (I'm picturing a marionette), in my heart I have already welcomed him to the Ask A Bookkeeper cast of characters.

As is the case with most of the Ask a Bookkeeper characters, once the YEWU had been conceived, there was no putting him back in the box.  Every time I enter the Year-End Wrap-Up process with my clients, I am secretly thinking of fuzzy marionettes.  While the YEWU may look a little scary, he is actually very cuddly and serves an important role in every business ecosystem.

As we near mid-December, I have already met with most of my clients to begin their YEWU™ process.  I want to make sure that all of my clients are on track for their 1099 and W2 filings.  Also, I want to make sure that I'm getting clean and complete books off to each client’s tax accountant in a timely fashion.  The cuddly YEWU helps with all of that, making sure that nothing slips through the cracks.

Clients, have you faced your YEWU this year?  If not, give me a call to schedule an appointment right away.

Also, if you are an accountant wanting to learn more about my YEWU™ process, please feel free to ask.  I am generally happy to share.  Together we are making the world a better place, built on a foundation of thriving small businesses.

Happy New Year, and Happy YEWU!